Overview
Anna loves math, and her boyfriend, Mike. Will she have to choose between them?
Anna Conway sometimes wishes her relationships would come as easy to her as math does. A natural math talent, Anna is at odds with what’s expected of her as a teenager in the 1950s. While Anna aspires to leave her small town for college to study mathematics, her parents want her to follow the more traditional path of getting married and starting a family. Anna’s never really thought of dating before, but when she meets Mike, their relationship takes off and goes further than she’d ever expected. Now it’s up to Anna to make her future happen. But how will she choose? In beautiful prose, Sharelle Byars Moranville explores the importance of believing in dreams in order to make a difference. A Higher Geometry is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Synopsis
Anna loves math, and her boyfriend, Mike. Will she have to choose between them?
Anna Conway sometimes wishes her relationships would come as easy to her as math does. A natural math talent, Anna is at odds with what's expected of her as a teenager in the 1950s. While Anna aspires to leave her small town for college to study mathematics, her parents want her to follow the more traditional path of getting married and starting a family. Anna's never really thought of dating before, but when she meets Mike, their relationship takes off and goes further than she'd ever expected. Now it's up to Anna to make her future happen. But how will she choose?
In beautiful prose, Sharelle Byars Moranville explores the importance of believing in dreams in order to make a difference.
Leslie Carter - VOYA
This pleasing novel is set in the post-Sputnik late 1950s. Although her parents embrace the values of small-town America, which would put her on the path to marriage and family after high school, Anna dreams of more for herself. She has a fierce interest and capability in math, and she wants more than anything to go to college. Into her life bounds Mike, who sweeps her off her feet. Their growing relationship causes Anna to think about the future in a different way, but when she is chosen to enter a state math contest and wins it, even her stern father is forced to reassess his traditional plans for her. A second trip, this time to Chicago for a test with the Academy of Mathematics and Sciences, proves beyond a doubt that Anna is truly gifted. Although Anna and Mike do become sexually active during the story, there are no explicit situations. Although not great literature, the novel is very readable, and most juvenile girls will enjoy it. The author does a credible job of immersing the reader into the culture of 1959, and her characters, although not completely full-blown, are believable. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Henry Holt, 212p., Ages 11 to 15.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Anna Conway is submerged in a world of calculus and trigonometry in the 1950s, at a time when home economics was the acceptable class for young women in rural high schools. Though this novel begins by dousing the reader with daunting math terminology that may turn uninterested readers away, it quickly evolves into a story of young love blossoming into forbidden love, and the struggle between what is acceptable versus the real life choices that Anna knows in her heart she must make. This is an endearing story dealing with Anna's relationship with her stern father and the modernly different bond she explores with Mike, her loyal boyfriend. Sharelle Byars Moranville's story of a young women seeking higher education in the postwar era explores the possibility of dreams and most importantly, determination to do what one loves rather than what is "expected." Young female readers will thoroughly enjoy this timeless story of self-awareness. 2006, Henry Holt, Ages 13 up.—Jeanna Sciarrotta
VOYA
This pleasing novel is set in the post-Sputnik late 1950s. Although her parents embrace the values of small-town America, which would put her on the path to marriage and family after high school, Anna dreams of more for herself. She has a fierce interest and capability in math, and she wants more than anything to go to college. Into her life bounds Mike, who sweeps her off her feet. Their growing relationship causes Anna to think about the future in a different way, but when she is chosen to enter a state math contest and wins it, even her stern father is forced to reassess his traditional plans for her. A second trip, this time to Chicago for a test with the Academy of Mathematics and Sciences, proves beyond a doubt that Anna is truly gifted. Although Anna and Mike do become sexually active during the story, there are no explicit situations. Although not great literature, the novel is very readable, and most juvenile girls will enjoy it. The author does a credible job of immersing the reader into the culture of 1959, and her characters, although not completely full-blown, are believable. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Henry Holt, 212p., Ages 11 to 15.—Leslie Carter