Ernő Rubik and His Magic Cube
by Kerry Aradhya; illus. by Kara Kramer
Primary    Peachtree    32 pp.
5/24    9781682636640    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781682636787    $11.99

Growing up in Budapest, young Ernő Rubik (b. 1944) was fascinated by shapes and puzzles and loved “imagin[ing] all the possibilities” offered by manipulating “tangrams, pentominoes, and pentacubes.” In this inviting picture-book biography, debut author Aradhya introduces readers to the figure behind the eponymous cube, first developed in 1974. Rubik became a teacher and continued to be passionate about cubes, which he used to teach students about three-dimensionality. His quest to “build a big cube out of smaller cubes that moved around each other and stayed connected” is the focus of the accessible text, which emphasizes curiosity, perseverance, and learning from failure as keys to success. (And sometimes the answer comes when we “stop thinking about” a problem.) Kramer’s (Tell Me a Lion Story, rev. 7/22) intriguing mixed-media and digital-collage illustrations bring playfulness and energy to the fore; for example, Rubik’s head is cube-shaped when he’s focused on figuring out his geometric and mechanical conundrum. The lively page design includes a variety of panel, single-page, and spot-art illustrations; lots of child-friendly details in the art and text should hold readers’ interest. Appended with more about Rubik’s “Magic Cube” (including the fact that he didn’t set out to create a puzzle, nor is he an expert solver), “By the Numbers” (e.g., “43 quintillion ways to scramble it…but only 1 solution!”), an author’s note about her own Cubing experiences, and a three-book list for more about the inadvertent puzzle master.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.