ALBERT EINSTEIN
By Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Viking, 2009
Category: Middle Grade Biography
It has been far too long since I blogged about a book love here. And while all the things that have been keeping me from doing so hold—my writing life is crazy busy and my family life is crazier busier—I had to make time today to shout about Kathleen Krull’s ALBERT EINSTEIN. It’s a must read, I think, for kids anyone with an interest in Mr. Albert Einstein.
We all know the man was a genius; his name has actually become synonymous with the term. And most people realize he devised the formula E=mc2. But do you know what this formula means? or how Einstein came to it? or why it turned the world of physics on its head? Do you know what the photoelectric effect is? or how one might prove the existence of atoms? or that Albert Einstein explained both in the very same year he devised his Theory of Relativity?
Now, thanks to Kathleen Krull, there is a perfectly understandable and completely enjoyable overview of the man, his life … and his work. Everything the layperson needs to know about Einstein and his contribution to theoretical physics explained succinctly in 134 pages of a children’s biography. What’s not to love about that?
Breezy writing, historical details, and rock solid scientific content are the hallmarks of all the titles in Krull’s ‘Giants of Science’ series. I highly recommend LEONARDO DA VINCI, ISAAC NEWTON, MARIE CURIE, and SIGMUND FREUD, too.