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Review: The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice

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Written by Amy Alznauer
Illustrated by Anna Bron
Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2025. Biography.

As a child, Marjorie loved noticing patterns. As an adult, when Marjorie read about an unfinished math problem centered around patterns, she was fascinated. Mathematicians had yet to develop a complete list of five-sided tessellations--a shape that fits together with itself infinitely, without any gaps. Though Marjorie never went to college or received any formal training as a mathematician, through her persistent study of this problem, she eventually discovered not one, but three new pentagons that fit together perfectly.

This picture book provides an approachable introduction to both Marjorie's story of perseverance and curiosity, and to the history of an interesting aspect of geometry. The illustrations beautifully bring the patterns to life, helping readers understand the difficulty of Marjorie's task and how the tiling shapes fit together. Further information and activities about tessellations are included at the end. A delightful biography of an inspiring amateur.
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