The Numbers Race

This upbeat and accessible picture book biography makes math fun with the true story of record-breaking Indian mathematician Shakuntala Devi taking on the world’s toughest math problems. Little Shakuntala loved to race all over her small town, against her siblings and cousins—and even chickens! But she wasn’t just speedy on her feet. She raced against numbers in her mind. Shakuntala would count up all the animals at her father’s circus, multiply the times her mother flipped the dough for dosas, and solve her older brother’s long division in her head! As she grew up, Shakuntala zipped all around the world performing her mathematic magic, racing against professors, the clock—and even a computer! This fast-paced true story celebrates women and girls in STEM and makes solving math problems become the most amazing race you’ve ever watched.