To continue with the back-to-school theme of fostering learning, my picture book of the week is Nothing Stopped Sophie by Cheryl Bardoe, illustrated by Barbara McClintock. It’s all about Sophie Germain, a German mathematician. Sophie grew up in a time when women weren’t expected to do much with their brains, unfortunately. She had a passion for numbers and even though her parents did everything to discourage her from studying math, she persisted. She would stay up late, studying in the dark with the candlelight from the stubs of candles. I’m so grateful for her and other women who showed the world that women have brains and can study and learn too. This is such a great story to share with both boys and girls, to show that girls can do math too. As a fan of math since my elementary school years, I can vouch that math is for girls too. I have always loved math and have always felt good at it. Kudos for Sophie for being a math girl who paved the way for other math girls after her.