What Miss Mitchell Saw
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Discover the amazing true story of Maria Mitchell, America’s first professional female astronomer.
Every evening, from the time she was a child, Maria Mitchell stood on her rooftop with her telescope and swept the sky. And then one night she saw something unusual—a comet no one had ever seen before! Miss Mitchell’s extraordinary discovery made her famous the world over and paved the way for her to become America’s first professional female astronomer.
Gorgeously illustrated by Diana Sudyka, this moving picture book about a girl from humble beginnings who became a star in the field of astronomy is sure to inspire budding scientists everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A bright-eyed baby peers up from a star-studded swaddle; the baby will become one of history's most famous female astronomers, Maria Mitchell. Born in 1818 to a family of Nantucket Quakers, Mitchell earned international renown for discovering a comet in 1847, winning the King of Denmark's gold medal and besting male claimants to the prize. Barrett focuses on Mitchell's life up to that moment, emphasizing her persistence ("Schoolwork did not always come easy, but she studied with determination") and her environment ("celestial phenomena that arched overhead like a whale's sparkling splash"). Sudyka's watercolor, ink, and gouache illustrations show stars gleaming from the ocean depths and inching up a woman's hem; Mitchell herself is swept aloft by their beauty and power. Notes on the subject's path-breaking career close the book. Ages 4 8.
