Annika Riz, Math Whiz by Claudia Mills (review)

Though a good friend of bibliophile Kelsey (from Kelsey Green, Reading Queen, BCCB 9/13), third-grader Annika isn’t all that interested in books. What Annika loves is math, and she’s sad that Kelsey and their other friend Izzy don’t share her enthusiasm (“It was hard when your two best friends hated the thing in the world you loved the most”). She’s therefore thrilled to discover that the library is holding a citywide Sudoku contest; she’s determined to be the third-grade champ, and she’s hoping that a contest win will convince Kelsey and Izzy that math is more fun than they realize. As usual, Mills delivers with a felicitous blend of breezy accessibility and perceptive understanding. Annika, a not-particularly-nerdy math-loving girl (“She couldn’t bear to leave a math question unanswered”), is an excellent ambassador for her passion, and the book’s gentle point about math’s popularity as a punching bag is effectively made. The subplot, the girls’ preparation for the class carnival, actually provides the majority of the action, so there’s plenty of daily-life friend interaction (and several failed batches of chocolate-chip cookies) to keep the interest of the mathphobic. This might inspire the uninitiated to try their hand at Sudoku, so have some puzzles ready for new math explorers.