A handful of new role models, along with light shed on just who made certain significant advances in astronomy, archaeology,...
Inspiring profiles of six 20th-century trailblazers.
Aside from “Shark Lady” Eugenie Clark and, thanks to attention inspired by recent histories and a film, NASA “computer” Katherine Coleman Johnson, Lawlor’s subjects will likely be new to young readers. All were, as the author puts it, struck by “thunderbolts of discrimination” for being women and, in the cases of Clark (whose mother was Japanese) and Johnson (who was African-American), people “of color.” Nevertheless, they persevered, made important discoveries in their varied fields, and, eventually at least, earned significant recognition. Photos and direct quotes appear but sparingly in the narratives, but readers will come away with some sense of each groundbreaker’s character and private life to go with concise but lucid explanations of her contributions. If some of the obstacles they faced seem ridiculous to contemporary readers—in order to use the Mount Wilson Observatory in the mid-1950s, for instance, “quasar hunter” Eleanor Margaret Burbidge had to pose as her husband’s assistant and could not use the dining hall or bathroom—even now no one will argue that the playing field has leveled for women in the sciences.
A handful of new role models, along with light shed on just who made certain significant advances in astronomy, archaeology, biology, medicine, and plate tectonics. (bibliography) (Collective biography. 11-15)Pub Date: March 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3675-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This bittersweet tale takes readers into a dark, ancient woods in the American Northwest. A father and son make this forest their special place to commune with the wild, to visit with the creatures that live therein, and to revel in the mesmerizing views. One day they find spots painted on the trees, markings for loggers. The boy and his father and family ignite a small grassroots resistance to the felling of the trees. They fight for something they believe in—it is almost a sacred obligation for them—but they are unsuccessful: the laws governing private property prevail. The trees are cut and, luckily, the father and son find another stand in which to take solace. The Rands (A Home for Spooky, 1998, etc.) offer a bright fusion of the cautionary and the inspirational, and the artwork is effective in conveying the outsized majesty of the old growth. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-5466-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
A picture book combines the exuberance of children and the drama found in nature for a sly lesson on power-sharing. Henderson (Newborn, 1999, etc.) lands on the wide reaches of a windy beach where young Jim expansively flings wide his arms and claims “All this is mine!” So it seems until the wind blows in a gale so violent that it smashes objects and tears “through the dreams of people sleeping.” An eerie series of black-and-white paintings shows the white-capped waves breaking ever higher and crashing inland; these are so frightening that Jim cries out to his mother, “The sea! It’s coming!” Happily enough, Jim and his mother are able to run up the hill to a grandmother’s house where they weather the storm safely. The next time Jim speaks to the wind, on a much quieter beach, he whispers, “All this is yours.” Large type, appealing pastel illustrations, and a dose of proper perspective on humankind’s power over nature make this book a fine choice for story hours as well as nature collections. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0904-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
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