Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--4--In this appealing childhood-to-adulthood biography of Hélène Courtois, readers experience the wonders of the natural world and the cosmos. As a child growing up in rural France, Courtois loved to explore and learn about the world through maps and questions. When she sees the aurora borealis, she begins to use the sky as her anchor. The author glosses over the sexism Courtois dealt with as a university student; when Courtois focuses on plasma physics, there's no explanation within the text of how plasma physics relates to the mapping of galaxies. Also missing are lay terms for some of the scientific vocabulary: luminosity is explained as the method of using the brightness of a star to determine its distance, with no real example of how that science works. With approximately 50 words per page and full-color cherubic illustrations, the book will send curious readers to other sources for a better grounding in the science. Back matter includes an appendix with a glossary, a bibliography, guidance on where to look at stars, and short biographies of other famous women scientists mentioned. VERDICT A good biography that works as an additional purchase for libraries looking for STEM books.--Vi Ha
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young girl's curiosity spurs her to map galaxies. Summers anchors this biography of astrophysicist Hélène Courtois (b. 1970) with the following refrain: "Hélène observed. Hélène questioned. Hélène had ideas. And the moon was always waiting for her." This use of repetition captures the spirit of an inquisitive young girl who hailed from a small French village and whose simple query-- "What is beyond the moon?"--has led to a lifetime of study. Summers skillfully demonstrates how map reading inspired Hélène to eventually decode the skies. As a girl, she learned to read trail maps and explore nearby mountains. Later, she read road maps, which led her to observe the northern lights and other astral occurrences. She was often the only woman in the classroom while studying astrophysics at college. Gazing at the night sky through a professional telescope, Hélène fell in love with galaxies, "luminous lighthouses in the vast sea of dark matter." She'd found her calling as a cosmographer, or one who maps galaxies. She assembled a team and along the way discovered a supercluster, which included the Milky Way. Though Summers gives readers a strong sense of her subject, some of the scientific language isn't explained until the glossary, which may frustrate youngsters. James has exuberantly illustrated Courtois' life by juxtaposing traditional classroom scenes and spot art of scientists at work, with vast night skies filled with twinkling stars and radiant blue and purple galaxies brushed with a golden glow. Sure to motivate readers to reach for the stars. (timeline, profiles of other women astronomers, information on building a professional telescope, bibliography)(Picture-book biography. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
