Odd Boy Out

A short picture book biography, Don Brown weaved the story of a young boy who was different from all the others. Young Albert Einstein was just as intensely devoted to his subjects of interest as he is remembered for being in adulthood. The book tells of Albert’s intense concentration in math in physics, not to mention his disregard for other subjects. For some reason, I had it in my head that Albert Einstein failed high school math, a great irony that I thought I had remembered correctly. Brown instead focused more on Albert as a young child, saying Einstein’s elementary school teachers were often frustrated in his thoughtful and calculated answers to math questions. Other information included was Albert’s feat of building a 14-story house of cards and that Albert had a younger sister named Maja, who was inevitably tortured as a younger sibling. Small details such as this made the story fun and personable.

The illustrations are a combination of pen and ink with water colors, plus a few computer graphics that accentuate the depth of Albert’s genius. On this particular spread, Albert is pushing a baby carriage, painted in watercolors across the bottom of one page. Above and beyond him is all of space, representing the caverns of his mind. In this space is an image of a galaxy, the number 186,000 (the speed of light) with a shadow behind it to signify movement, a magnified particle, a shooting star, and an old clock with roman numerals flying off the face around the equation E=MC². I appreciated this addition to the illustrations. The variance in medium catches the attention of the reader, and I can imagine that this is a page on which young readers would linger. I know I certainly did.

I learn so much through children’s books. The information is simplified and straight forward, not to mention interesting and entertaining. Don Brown also included an Author’s Note and a bibliography so that readers could find further information. While the book focused on Albert’s childhood, Brown’s Author’s Note gave more attention to Albert’s adult life, including his research and involvement with the development of the atom bomb. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to any reader interested in Albert Einstein.