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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: Erno Rubik and His Magic Cube
Author: Kerry Aradhya
Illustrator: Kara Kramer
Publisher: Peachtree
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: PK-5 Genre/Type of Book: Biography
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: N/A
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: Nominated for the CYBILS award for Elementary and Middle Grade nonfiction
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
The creation of one of the most popular handheld toys started with a boy and his love of puzzles.
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Review:
The creation of one of the most popular handheld toys started with a boy and his love of puzzles. Erno Rubik was born in Budapest, a quiet boy who enjoyed solitary time inside of his home reading and doing puzzles. He wanted to understand the world around him, and did so by breaking it into shapes and puzzles to solve, As he grew up, he studied art and architecture and eventually became a teacher. Because of a particular fascination with cubes, Erno wondered if it would be possible to build a cube made of smaller moving cube pieces. He tried and failed to many times to count, struggling to figure out how to connect the pieces in a way that allowed them movement. It wasn't until he came back to one of his other loves, nature, that he realized that round stone allowed water to move freely and that maybe something round would be his solution. His creation was a success! But he never intended for it to become a puzzle - it was only until he mixed all of the pieces up and tried to match them together again that inspired him to brand his creation as the Magic Cube, or Rubik's Cube that we know today.
I never knew where the Rubik's cube had come from, and I really enjoyed this biography and learning about Erno. The words and ideas were broken down in a way that made each page digestible, especially for an elementary audience. Readers work alongside Erno through his trials and errors, and through his love of puzzles and geometry. The books illustrations mirrored the traditional colors seen on a Rubik's cube, and are designed to look like crayon/pencil sketches. One of the best parts of the book was the back author's note, which shared that Erno didn't intend for this creation to become a puzzle, and detailed how the cube we know today came to be. This information makes the story more realistic and interesting. The cover of the book is bright and fun, and would attract attention of elementary audiences. This book could be used as a read aloud, in a lesson learning about biographies, or as a source of a research project of some sort. A really fun and imaginative elementary biography for your collection.
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For more information about this book, see the Publisher's Website
For activities and resources about this book check out TeachingBooks.net