#588 - The Girl Who Played With Numbers : Shakuntala Devi
by Lavanya Karthik
“The Girl Who Played With Numbers : Shakuntala Devi” by Lavanya Karthik. Published by Duckbill. A delightfully illustrated story of a little girl for whom numbers were playmates.
Before she became a legend, Shakuntala Devi was just a little girl. Numbers can be intimidating for many. But for little Shaku, they were creatures who invited her to their amazing world full of patterns and stories. Finding them irresistible, she dived right into their games and loved playing with them. She was just three years old when she first met them while watching her Appa (father in Kannada) practice a card trick. From then on there was no looking away from numbers for her.
Realising her talent with numbers, her Appa started giving her new challenges to solve with bigger numbers. And Shaku found that the numbers formed patterns and stories. They invited her into their world and she readily jumped in with delight. She loved playing with them. Soon she found herself being taken by her Appa to schools and colleges to show off her skills. She began longing for other things that children of her age did. Like going to school to study other subjects and playing. She wasn’t allowed any of that sadly. Read the book to know how Shaku went on to become Shakuntala Devi, the world famous “human computer”, and what she felt about her bonding with numbers.
The book proved to be a visual delight with the numbers coming to life in its vivid spreads. The illustrations done in hues of green, yellow and white are inspired by the Mysore school of painting. While my seven year old nephew was awestruck by how little Shaku could be so good with numbers, my almost eleven year old son couldn’t stop asking why she couldn’t be like any other child of her age going to school and having friends to play with. Both of them were awestruck by the calculations she could do given that she started so young. They couldn’t fathom someone so young being able to do that. Given that they see my four year old niece still learning to count till twenty :) This is the twelfth book from the amazing “dreamers” series which is one of our favourites. The series gives a glimpse into the childhoods of incredible people from different fields.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.
P.S - The previous books from the series are on Satyajit Ray, Teejan Bai, R.K.Narayan & R.K.Laxman, Janaki Ammal, Salim Ali, Bachendri Pal, P.C.Sorcar, Mahasweta Devi, J.R.D.Tata, P.T.Usha and Nek Chand.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!