Another Notable Nonfiction Picture Book: Meet Maria Mitchell, Astronomer!

CRESTON BOOKS, 2023

 In this post heading I chose to feature the subtitle of a new biographic picture book because Maria Mitchell deserves to have her name more widely known. HER EYES ON THE STARS: Maria Mitchell, Astronomer is written by the impressive and award-winning author, Laurie Wallmark, with powerful illustrations by Liz Wong. Wallmark has written both nonfiction and fiction titles, some of which I've reviewed here, here, and here. She is widely recognized for her focus on WOMEN IN STEM. 

In this important work, Wallmark again writes a story that engages readers with well-researched content, beginning with a scene of young Maria spending moonless nights on the rooftop of her home with her father, exploring the starry skies through his telescope. Tracking and making sense of those skies and patterns, safely viewing eclipses, watching the repeated patterns of the waxing and waning moon combined with nightly star-studies fill her with knowledge and questions.

I especially loved the description of an event revealing how knowledgeable she was though very young. She calibrated a whaler-captain's maritime chronometer-- an essential navigation tool --because his urgent request was made while her father was away. Maria's lifelong understanding of mathematics and astronomical instruments allowed her to provide the necessary answers, despite the captain's doubts of her ability at only thirteen years old. This was also despite Maria's birth into the early years of the nineteenth century, when girls and women were often considered uneducable, or at least not worthy of work beyond domestic shores. She lived a life that included a scientific father who believed his daughter had a brain, and in circumstances that allowed her to use that privilege and blessing to continue to examine the night skies with the attention and consistency of a dedicated scientist. 

This was an accomplishment of note, but the event that marked her for history was her identification of an as-yet unknown comet on October 1, 1847. She knew that her discovery should be reported officially, immediately, because others might also have noted the comet's appearance and location. When the esteemed official bodies of scientists made their final rulings, Maria was found to be the first woman ever to have identified a previously unknown comet. That marked her as a success, of sorts, within the astronomical community, but it was barely a halfway point in her long life and career as a scientist and studier of the night skies.

The back matter is (as always with Wallmark's nonfiction books) a rich and readable resource for those who finish the account of Maria's life in the main text with a sense of awe. There are plenty of additional facts and resources (timeline, bibliography, author note) and each is provided in ways useful to young readers and to the adults who might share the book with them. In this case that is especially suited to the life story of a girl whose parent became her mentor and guide, supporter and admirer, as she piloted the night skies where no woman had gone before. At least not with such success. 

The illustrations merit attention not only for their evocative and appealing tones and color choices, but for the extensive information they offer without intruding on the story itself. From double page spreads to insets and spot illustrations the images clarify science details, expand on aspects of the surrounding history and culture of Maria's lifetime, while conveying a quiet reserve and deliberation that seem to be good descriptors of her approach to life. 

Don't miss this title. And don't miss any opportunity to spend time in the dark outdoors on a moonliess night to see what it was that inspired Maria Mitchell to such greatness!