{"id":2605,"date":"2013-07-21T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T06:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2605"},"modified":"2013-07-21T10:31:30","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T16:31:30","slug":"7-imp%e2%80%99s-7-kicks-340-featuring-leuyen-pham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2605","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #340: Featuring LeUyen Pham"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Raise your hand if you’ve seen Deborah Heiligman\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> new picture book biography of Hungarian mathematician Paul Erd\u00f6s<\/a><\/strong>, who died in the mid-’90s but remains a cult figure in the world of mathematics. I knew nothing about Erd\u00f6s till I read this book, and what a good picture book it is. It’s called The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erd\u00f6s<\/em>, and it’s illustrated by LeUyen Pham<\/a><\/strong>. (Pictured above are some of LeUyen’s sketches of Erd\u00f6s throughout his life.)<\/p>\n

I wrote about it very recently here<\/a><\/strong> at Kirkus<\/em>, so today I’m following up with some art and sketches from LeUyen. Part of what I wrote in that column is that into her sharp, colorful illustrations for this book, LeUyen incorporates a good deal of math \u2014 from harmonic primes on Page 1, floating through the white space, as young Paul chases after them, to prime numbers on the final spread, part of the very fabric of the buildings, just waiting for observant eyes to discover them. In between, we see theorems, equations, graphs, and much more, all waiting to be found on nearly every spread. Pham explains all the math and all the art in a very lengthy and informative illustrator’s note at the close of the book. <\/p>\n

Here are some final spreads and early sketches. Enjoy. <\/p>\n


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Early sketches<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Book’s opening spread: “Paul Erd\u00f6s lived in Budapest, Hungary, with his mama.
Mama loved Paul to infinity. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“…One day, when he was 4<\/strong><\/font><\/font>, Paul asked a visitor when her birthday was. She told him. What year were you born? he asked. She told him. What time? She told him. Paul thought for a moment. Then he told her how many seconds she had been alive. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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Early art\/sketch phase: “‘I have no home,’ he declared.
‘The world is my home.'”<\/em>
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Early art\/sketch phase: “…Why did friends all over the world put up with him?
And take care of him? Call him Uncle Paul and love him?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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Book’s final spread: “A long time ago there was a boy who loved math. Numbers were his best friends. He grew up to be the man who loved math. Numbers <\/em>and people were his best friends. Paul Erd\u00f6s had no problem with that.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

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THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH: THE IMPROBABLE LIFE OF PAUL ERDOS. Copyright \u00a9 2013 by Deborah Heiligman. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2013 by LeUyen Pham. Published by Roaring Brook Press, New York. All images here used with permission of LeUyen Pham and the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome. <\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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1)<\/strong><\/font> Sam’s<\/a><\/strong> new CD (pictured left) arrived, and it is remarkably good. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> I went to lovely East Tennessee at the end of the week to talk about the best picture books of the year thus far for the University of Tennessee’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I saw some friends while I was there. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> I got big hugs from my family when I returned. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> I am very much enjoying Orange Is the New Black<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. It makes me laugh, cry, and think. And the acting. So<\/em> good. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> This wonderful chat<\/a><\/strong> with Leonard Marcus at Fine Books & Collections<\/em>. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Last week<\/a><\/strong> I said I’ve had more work than normal this summer, yet I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, I’m so close that my hand is reaching out and can feel the warmth of the light. I’m very<\/em> near to having my normal work schedule back (or what passes for normal for me). <\/p>\n

What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Click to enlarge) Raise your hand if you’ve seen Deborah Heiligman\u2019s new picture book biography of Hungarian mathematician Paul Erd\u00f6s, who died in the mid-’90s but remains a cult figure in the world of mathematics. I knew nothing about Erd\u00f6s till I read this book, and what a good picture book it is. It’s called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}