I got to the point as a teenager that I either needed to embrace my growing nonconformity or else end up feeling bad all the time about not being like everyone else seemed to be. 'But Albert didn't want to be like the other students.'

They said he would never amount to anything unless he learned to behave like all the other students. So many questions that some of his teachers told him he was a disruption in his class. 'When I was young it seemed that life was so wonderful,Īnd all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happilyīut then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, Richie's Picks: ON A BEAM OF LIGHT: A STORY OF ALBERT EINSTEIN by Jennifer Berne and Vladimir Radunsky, Chronicle, April 2013, 56p., ISBN: 978-0-8118-7235-5 is going to be murder to shelve, a complaint only library people will relate to! I think they are pleasant enough but there is nothing about them that makes me go WOW! I guess part of what I'm thinking is that we have so many books for kids on Einstein that a new one really should cover some new way of looking at a genius and I don't think this book does that successfully. Sure, kids can relate to that but how important is that to an understanding for what made Einstein tick? I think if I were a kid I'd finish the book thinking so why is this guy so famous? It is just too general,even for the age it is written for. I suppose a lot of what bugged me was the emphasis on his little oddities in behavior such as refusing to wear socks. However, it is a piece of info to consider when purchasing for the library. I agree, not all books can or should be report type books. Also, from a librarian point of view, this book is rather useless for a kid doing a report on Einstein. But I am not at all sure it would make sense to a kid. While I don't really have much that is negative about this book, I don't see a lot that is positive either. I don't know if it is the last page that gets them so excited with the author addressing the kid reader pointing out the kid might be the one to solve some of the questions Einstein left posterity or what.

People have been singing their praises over this book. I seem to be having different opinions from most lately.

On a beam of light by jennifer berne