Leo + Lea
by Monica Wesolowska (Author) Kenard Pak (Illustrator)
A beautiful celebration of friendship, math, and art that honors different ways of seeing and being in the world.
"The mathematical wonder is creatively incorporated." -- Kirkus Reviews
"It all adds up to an inventive, affecting story." -- Publishers Weekly
One
boy
loves numbers.
Everywhere he look
she sees things to count.
His classmates don't understand counting as he does.
A new girl loves patterns.
Could she be
a friend
for
Leo?
This beautiful friendship story, inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and cleverly constructed using its mathematical pattern, celebrates our differences, as well as how math connects us to one another.
Young readers will love counting the number of words per page and discovering how they echo the Fibonacci Sequence, a mathematical series in which each number is the sum of the previous two: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on to infinity! Text and art are masterfully conceived and constructed to reflect Leo's love of numbers. Even the color scheme in the striking illustrations follows a mathematical progression, bringing an underlying order and tranquility to the story. The mesmerizing symmetry of this fascinating and compulsively playable game of addition can also be found in the natural world and is an intriguing metaphor for the interconnectedness of all things.
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Kirkus
Publishers Weekly
Math and art combine for a portrait of blossoming friendship in this picture book infused with layers of Fibonacci numbers. East Asian-cued Leo counts his way through the school day: trees, steps, classmates. " 'Leo, ' his teacher says, / 'count softly, please.' " When a new classmate arrives, brown-skinned artist Lea, the pair connect over a shared love of patterns--a discovery made when Leo, during a moment of sensory overwhelm on the playground, notices Lea's drawing. Wesolowska constructs the narrative so the quantity of words on each page follows the Fibonacci sequence: one ("Leo"), one ("Counting"), and so on, unfurling up to "fifty-five/ daisies" before spiraling in reverse past "Two/ friends." Creators' notes detail the sequence and describe the way Pak's primarily digital renderings work in harmony, relying upon "Fibonacci color hexadecimal code sequences," which frequently radiate pastel hues. It all adds up to an inventive, affecting story. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Praise for Leo + Lea:
"A warm portrayal of a friendship sparked by an unexpected connection . . . the mathematical wonder is creatively incorporated." — Kirkus Reviews
Kenard Pak used colors and shapes based on the Fibonacci sequence to create a visual story of a budding friendship that opens with a simple, airy room and blossoms into a full, lush landscape. He is the author and illustrator of Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn, and Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter, winner of the 2018 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Illustration. He is also the illustrator of several picture books including Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper, Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray, and The Fog by Kyo Maclear, which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, their young daughter, and three cats. You can learn more about his work at pandagun.com.
JUV009030 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Counting & Numbers
JUV039150 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Special Needs
JUV072000 - Juvenile Fiction | Mathematics
Counting
Fibonacci numbers
