This story is based a bit on my own life—though I did not have nearly the mathematical gifts I give to Anna, nor a boyfriend as cute as Mike. But I really did live in a place much like Anna’s, and I really did compete in and sometimes win state mathematical contests, and I really did have two sweet little sisters. The part that’s truest to me is Anna’s grief at the loss of her grandmother. My beloved grandmother died while this story was in the formative stages. And the artistic bent I ascribe to Anna’s grandmother actually belongs to my real-life mother.
A Higher Geometry
Starred review from Booklist: Following Over the River, Moranville offers another graceful story set in the rural Midwest after World War II. . . . Readers will easily connect with the romance that’s both thrilling and nurturing and with Anna’s steady resolve to follow her passion for numbers and challenge a world of expectations.
Awards: Booklist Top 10 Romance for youth; Bank Street Best Book of the Year; Nominated for Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA); 2007 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended List
From the Publisher: Anna Conway sometimes wishes that her relationships would come as easy to her as math. A natural math talent, Anna is at odds with what’s expected of her as a teenager coming of age in the late 1950s.
While Anna dreams of leaving her small town for college to study mathematics at a higher level, her parents want her to follow the more traditional path of getting married and having children. Anna has never really thought about dating, but when she meets Mike she begins to feel different. Their relationship takes off, and goes further than Anna had ever expected. Now it’s up to Anna to make her future happen. But how will she choose between the person she loves and her lifelong passion?
Recommended for readers 12-18.
Henry Holt ISBN 9780805074703