I looove historical fiction, especially short stories.I would have loved this as a teen, fun and already passing on the rec to others

This book is a really creative and useful conceptually. I love the mission of getting girls into STEM and solving problems. I found the book difficult to get in to unfortunately, I wasn’t keen on the initial focus of the book being on boys, it really jarred with my expectations. There were also a fair few quotes and the preamble was lengthy. Which I understand but it wasn’t what I was looking for. .

A brilliant read for a nerd like me, really really enjoyed this book and the message it delivers. I would absolutely recommend

A collection of five historical fiction adventure stories featuring young heroines. Each one uses math to find real-world solutions to the problems they face.

As someone who never enjoyed math, I admire the ambition of the author: to inspire girls with tales of other girls using math to succeed. Each story takes place in different parts of the world with a diverse cast and different problems.

However, I had a difficult time figuring out where to place this book. It says it is for young adults, but the writing felt intended for middle grade readers. Yet, the content at times did not feel appropriate for that age group (scenes of battles and violence). There were several times when I was confused about what was happening in the story even though it was short and easy to read, but this could just be the writing style.

I honestly do not know who I would recommend this book to.

This is a collection of historical fiction stories. I think my students, especially the girls, need to read that girls can help find the answers, no pun intended, as well as adults. The girls in the stories come from different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes and are able to play a role in changing the course of history.

I enjoyed the book and plan to share it with my students. I am not sure if I can make it part of my curriculum, but can definitely recommend it.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited when I saw this collection of stories about young women throughout history solving real world problems using math, specifically geometry. Unfortunately while the premise was great, the stories themselves did not live up to expectations.

There was little description of exactly how geometry was applied to solve the problems, for most of the stories it happened so abruptly that the protagonist seems to have just had a stroke of genius at the right time with no explanation of what concepts were used.

The stories themselves were also a little disjointed, full of abrupt twists with no previous context. Similarly, I can appreciate the diversity of the stories and incorporation of major world events through persons from those countries. Unfortunately this also missed the mark and while the author's notes gave context for the story and event or time period in question, the characters themselves remained underdeveloped and stereotypical..

I thought the idea was a promising one, but I can't honestly say that this seems like it will encourage any young women in mathematics.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this review copy.

This book seemed right up my alley but it was so odd. I tried reading it to my daughter but we ultimately gave up. British teenage boys smoking cigarettes and fighting? It was really hard to follow. We were quite lost and confused.

Seeing Tom's rather lengthy catalogue at the end of the book surprised me for this book, despite its commendable intentions, was very amateurish. It was too simply written, had too much dialogue, not enough exposition and a puzzling layout. I wonder if this was a rough draft? One thing I do appreciate about this was its scope though for it does cover quite a wide breadth of background and cultures.

I realise I might be missing something. I really don’t like being negative in my reviews, after all the author has always put so much of themselves into the words in the page. But on this occasion I’m disappointed. I was expecting stories that would draw female readers into the exciting world of maths in the real world using fiction. Unfortunately I did not find this. The stories seem haphazard, and don’t to me have female leads. This book would not hold the interest of the girls I teach at all. So while I commend the idea behind the book, I personally think it misses the mark by a long way. Thank you to Empire Studies Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine.

I always find value in books with such specific aims, and the aim of getting girls interested in STEM/STEAM fields is very well established. Apart from the stories in the collection, the inclusion of a foreword (full of statistics as well as a mission statement) was a nice idea and set the tone very well. I enjoyed the evaluative sections after each of the stories which made clear what was real and what was inspired.

As for the actual short stories, I appreciated the efforts they took to be as multicultural and un-whitewashed as possible, which is something that is sorely needed to reach as many young girls as possible. However, the actual writing left something to be desired. It seemed to be aimed at younger readers than the content is, as there are some more graphic descriptions of violence yet the language could be more appropriate for children aged 9-11. As well as this, the formatting and pacing seemed off, with little to no paragraphs of length, and screenplay-style subheadings to establish the setting of each scene.

All in all, I think the strong characters and real historical inspiration are incorporated very well.

I’m always looking for engaging historical fiction with strong female characters to add to my classroom library. The five stories in “The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls” fit the bill. These vignettes into time and place each feature a strong girl who uses her brain to solve problems. Whether solving mysteries, bettering village life, or trying to stop a famine before it happens, these young women get the job done.

Each bite-sized story can be read in one sitting. Each of the characters is distinct in her time and place in the world. Some of the characters work within society’s constraints and others seem to work against barriers. I found some of the transitions in time a bit jarring, but this may have been because the Advanced Reader’s Copy didn’t have clear chapter divisions within each story. Really, each of these adventures could be expanded to a much longer telling of the tale.

I liked that the girls used practical applications of mathematics to solve problems in a no-nonsense way. Tom Durwood makes complex math accessible in these tales.

This book would be great for middle school and high school readers looking for bite-sized stories and strong female characters. I will get a copy of this for my classroom.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #BooksGoSocial for a copy of “The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls” for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

"Good creativity is generated...when the brain acts using all its superpowers: observation, curiosity, calculation, analysis, logic, empathy..." By "weav(ing) math into adventure stories" arguably, female students can be encouraged to pursue STEM studies. Problem solving and real world applications are conveyed in these delightful, historical adventures.

Ruby Pi and the Mystery of the Old Carthusians

-Teenage engineering student, Ruby Pi, wins the bid for her firm to repair a cathedral.
-Ruby states, "...a framework of thin steel rods will support your cathedral...their tensile strength is most considerable."
-Calculations must be 100% accurate.
-Application: Lake Peigneur was a small, 10 foot deep, fresh water lake in Central, Louisiana. A miscalculation occurred. There was a salt mine beneath the lake. The lake was sucked into the empty salt mine shaft along with 13 barges and a fishing boat.

The Architect

-Isoke and her brothers attended the Igue Festival for the purpose of buying a bull calf to sire their village's heifers.
-Arriving the day before the festival, Isoke observed the festival grounds-"a celebration of symbols and numbers-different tribes' runes and patterns."
-A change in a tribe's geometric pattern was indicative of war. Isoke takes note of the change.
-Isoke saves the Queen who bestows gifts...6 satchels of books with journal entries of rain and sun, trade routes, sundials, water management...many numbers...many words from many countries...a wealth of knowledge.
-Application: "In China, from the early days of mankind, open bowls of rice absorbed moisture to better protect scrolls of papyrus."

"The Adventures of Ruby Pi and the Geometry Girls" by Tom Durwood is being released concurrently with "Ruby Pi and the Math Girls", five additional historical tales that use history, drama and math to spread the "magic of math" to girls in grades 6-12.

Thank you BooksGoSocial and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC for this book.

I am not familiar enough with the minimum amount of narration and so many dialogues. It feels like reading a movie script, watching a movie that being shown in a cinema that is my head. The stories were pretty hard to follow but it was written nicely so I kinda could enjoy it a bit. However, since I am not exactly familiar with the flood of dialogues throughout the book, it was hard to get absorbed with it.

I really loved the use of Mathematics and thought it was incorporated in the story so well. It had a great concept and did what I was hoping for. The characters were well done and worked with the time-period going on. I enjoyed what I read and hope this series continues.

"The ragged-toothed assassins were young and big-shouldered, fearful killers bristling with knives. One wielded a short-sword, of the European fashion. They wore leopard skins. Isoke grabbed a torch from the Xhosa and hurled it crossways, to trip the slayers as they advanced. "

I had hoped this would be something I can use in my classroom and adapt to a math unit study, as those types of books are so hard to find, but it was clunky and difficult to read. It won't be a good fit. I do think that part of the problem was the formatting -- it just didn't translate well into my e-reader.