Biography, Mentor Text, STEM: THE FIRE OF STARS

Chronicle Books, 2023

I've admired and learned from blogs posted by  author Kirsten W. Larson going all the way back to one earliest piece about creating curious kids. That was in 2012, near my own launch of this blog. Her most recent picture book, THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, is illustrated by Katherine Roy with enlightening brilliance in matching the text language with the  structure of the visual spreads and sidebar narrative.

One look at the cover hints at what I mean by the inspired art design and illustration. Loose-lined, fluid biographic art reveals moments in  astrophysicist Cecilia Payne's progression from curious child to groundbreaking investigator, astronomer, professor, and award-winner as one of the rare woman scientists of her time. Her discovery confirmed what, exactly, those sparkly dots in the night sky were made of. But the astronomical art is as precise and awe-inspiringly accurate as NASA slides! The two styles in combination offer a mirror to the parallel text approach using brilliant brief phrasing to describe the spawning/birth/maturity cycle of new stars on each page with simple and crisp narrative descriptions of Cecilia's path from childhood to her paradigm-changing discovery and beyond. You truly must read this fully to recognize how suitable the two visual and text narrative arcs reflect the processes of "coming of age" as stages in an elaborate process, not simplistic steps. This single spread interior page is just a whisper of many glorious examples throughout:

Chronicle Books, THE FIRE OF STARS, interior.

For centuries the assumption was that stars were made of the same materials as planets. The possibility that it could be something else was rarely even considered, except by Cecilia. She not only wondered and gathered data, she identified proofs for her radical theory within existing data that others had viewed for other purposes and without the imagination and flexible thinking of this curious, persistent woman.

Even if the question of how stars form is not a priority for you, I'm asking you to trust that the material in the hands of such a skilled writing and creative team will fascinate and inspire you. If you already are  a night-sky-wonderer, I'm certain you'll be "over the moon" about this one!  Please give this new picture book a look, and let's give Cecilia Payne the starry spotlight she deserves.

MAKING MORE- How Life Begins: A Masterpiece from Katherine Roy

In case you haven't noticed, I read MANY picture books across many styles, topics, intended audiences, and formats. Here's is one that took me by surprise with its scope, beauty, and content, a triumph of story, images, and language. 

Norton Young Readers, 2023

MAKING MORE: How Life Begins is entirely the creation of Katherine Roy. and it's all about creation. As the tag line on her website states, and perfectly describes the unforgettable books Roy has created to date:

Creating beautiful, science-based books that tell the story of the natural world.

I've read and thoroughly enjoyed her prior titles. (Click her name above to see them featured on her website.) In the case of this latest release, Roy has taken on a topic immensely broader than her prior titles, as expansive and comprehensive as those other very special titles were: stars, Mars, sharks, elephants, and ocean depths.

In this case, She addresses the ways in which life reproduces itself. That, in fact, has always been the definition of life:  from microscopic plants and creature to ourselves. An essential element in any definition of life is its capacity to reproduce themselves.

The visual narrative that ties these portrayals together involves an obviously pregnant woman, an apparently male partner, a young boy, and their dog. The opening spread states her case clearly with a familiar robin on center-right stage, bill grasping grass tufts to prepare a nest. Directly from that page is more memorable and important text, which I'll refer to again as I conclude. 

"Everywhere, all around you, life is making more. Mammals and insects. Trees and flowers.Fish and frogs. Like food and water, like oxygen and sunlight, reproduction is essential for our Earth."

The page turn extends this universal truth about the most frequently observed reproduction pattern:

"Meet, merge, and create something NEW."

The family explores and observes within a wild habitat that appears to be temperate northern hemisphere but with truths that apply across the globe.

After that gloriously powerful launch, Roy moves to more  detailed text and images that  address genes, DNA, cells, gametes and scientific side notes and images with accurate labels to help  make sense of the more complex expository text. Even so, the natural scenes on facing pages invite even the youngest to pay rapt attention to a reading, even if the content is more environmentally advanced that they are ready to fully absorb. Even someone (like me), someone who has seen such creatures and settings in real life and in a variety of images, can  find curiosity rising and questions propelling us onward.

Roy demonstrates mastery of  scope, too, not just related to species variations. This content explores the HOW, but not limited to mechanics at the observable or cellular level, ways the merging is supported by sound, sight, and other signals to connect the matching living things in the area. it also notes ways in which chance plays an incredible role, including external fertilization and internal mating. Exceptional cases are also addressed, like bees and other insects pollinating plants, though some plants like ferns reproduce without requiring others of their own kind or pollination to generating MORE life.

Roy's illustrations are a masterful mix of being beautifully expressive and accurately drawn, labeled, and painted with color and other details that make this a picture book that might well supplement understanding among advanced science studies. Even the topic of crossing between/among species of many living things plays a role in the important truth that CHANGE is another essential aspect of Earth's survival. The concluding art spread opens into a double-wide gatefold of celebration of new life, one that carries that visual narrative of the single family into a social event representing a wider community. Readers could spend long minutes savoring and investigating. 

Back matter is an effective resource for parent/teacher/librarian readers and also for young readers who have reached a developmental stage of readiness for study and discussion of the details of this subject matter. The KEY TERMS glossary is thorough and helpful, with species listed in the order in which they appear, using common names and scientific ones. I especially appreciate this approach  (as opposed to noting those  in smaller font on each page as they occur) because the technically-detailed pages are able to remain the focus of the book. A "backyard" note indicates that Roy chose to identify and investigate living things in her own proximity. She issues a direct invitation to explore near home with suggestions to readers of places they might be on any given day in their own lives, and things to look for. A full page of small-font text describes/explains very effectively what is happening at a cellular level during MEIOSIS, with easy to follow (and notated) illustrations of each step in the process. Don't miss the author note that follows all this. it is like having Roy as as guest in your home/mind!

Even if scientific and other nonfiction topics are not your favorite types of picture books (which is hard to imagine, but can be true!) please take a close look at this one. Once you do, I'm guessing you will track down all the other picture books by this impressive creator/scientist.  I'm for one, mama eager to see MORE picture books emerging from her talent and knowledge.

As mentioned in opening lines above, I want to return that opening text in the book, these words:

"Everywhere, all around you, life is making more. Mammals and insects. Trees and flowers.Fish and frogs. Like food and water, like oxygen and sunlight, reproduction is essential for our Earth."

My eagerness for you (any and all of you reading this) to find, read, and consider the value of this book is based on its own merits. Beyond that, I am actively urging you to learn about it and talk about it. This hinges on the current political movement (by a a loud and powerful, but small contingent of activists) to remove many books from public access. This could become a prime candidate for such censorship. There is nothing graphic or shocking in this offering, but the very topic seems to be beyond rigid and arbitrary "standards", offending efforts to deny science and information to those outside their personal purview. If you check this out and believe it belongs in schools and libraries and homes, please speak up-- among your friends, to your librarians, and in public settings. Thank you.