INTERVIEW with SHRUTHI RAO, Author of WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL

 Last week I posted a review and commentary on an important new non-fiction biographic picture book written by SHRUTHI ROA and illustrated by Srinidhi Srinivasan, HERE. I'm delighted to say that Shruthi took time from her busy life (book birthday celebrations, travels related to family schooling, and LIFE!) to respond to some questions I had about her experiences in writing and releasing this new book.

SHRUTHI RAO, Author

As I wrote in my review post, I had the pleasure of working (virtually) with the author of this book while we shared responsibilities on a nonfiction CYBILS AWARDS panel. I enjoyed her thorough readings and comments, her balanced discussions and considerations of nominees, and her strong science background. That makes this interview especially fun for me, allowing me to learn even more about her and her writing.

I wanted to build my understanding of her author journey before asking my questions. After exploring her website, (and I hope you wiIl do that, too, HERE) I turned to the "ultimate authorities", YOUTUBE and Google. There are some fascinating interviews available, and I urge readers to check them out. Among them, I particularly enjoyed the personal interview of SHRUTHI with Ninad, a very impressive boy who was quite well prepared. I urge anyone to click and enjoy it! While you’re at it, readers, check out the many books she has written by going to her website. 

Without further delay...

Margaret K. MacElderry Books
October 14, 2025

SB:  Shruthi, thank you so much for taking time out of this busy release period to reply to my questions. As my review indicated, I found WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL: How S. Chandrasekhar Predicted the Existence of Black Holes to be a compelling biographic account of the lifelong brilliance and persistence of Chandra. The text is both accessible and comprehensive, pairing perfectly with illustrations that evoke the mysteries of the night sky, the intellectual spark of a boy-become-man, the high drama and daily drudge of being a scientist, and the ultimate expansiveness of validation, acceptance, and even accolades. Can you take us through the journey of how Chandra‘s story came into your life and moved to the front of the list of the many titles you write about?

SR: Thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough, in-depth analysis and review of our book, Sandy. I appreciate it highly.

In 2014, my father quietly handed me the book Chandra: A Biography of S Chandrasekhar, written by Kameshwar C. Wali. It is a personal, intimate portrait of an unassuming, gentle, yet larger-than-life scientist. I also learned a whole lot about the science of stars, the intricacies of the working of the scientific community. It was quite the pageturner. I came away from it with a deep respect for a man who navigated life’s challenges with grace and elegance. What fascinated me most was how Chandra was able to brush aside the deep disappointment and betrayal he faced right at the beginning of his career, and moved on with his life and went on to other great things. Ever since, I’ve been itching to tell this story to young people, but kept putting it on the backburner.

Around 2020-21, I began studying the art of writing picture books, and attended an online nonfiction SCBWI course. Then, this idea came back to me in full force, and I began to try writing it.

 SB: Wow, that response makes me grin! I'll unpack that grin. When one person hands another a good book, the ripple effect offers potential magic, especially when it comes from someone we love! Next, the life story of an impressive individual, well-told, lives on within us in so many ways and begs to be shared with others, doesn't it, just like your father wanted to share it with you? I love the way the work behind the actual writing was going on in your head for enough time to let it emerge with strength, and that SCBWI helped you find your path into writing nonfiction picture books! (Side note to readers, to anyone who is even considering writing for ages from  birth to twenty should explore this link to SCBWI, the SOCIETY FOR CHILDREN'S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS.  Both beginners and accomplished writers like Shruthi can learn and develop writing craft through programs available to international members.)

Details were woven into the narrative very effectively, and many other elements of Chandra’s life and his science were presented well in back matter. How did you go about deciding which facts to incorporate into this story and which to include in extra material at the back? 

SR: I wrote several drafts of the story, right from a skeleton draft to a very wordy, detailed one. The challenge was that astrophysics and the science of stars is such that it has to be described with perfect accuracy. Not mentioning science at all in the story would be a disservice, but too much science was weighing it down and I wasn’t able to find the rhythm and the cadence that a picture book demands.

It took me more than 60 drafts to get this right. What finally worked was writing a very basic “song” with a swinging rhythm, and then going back in and adding just the right amount of science into the story for it – enough for it to shoulder a bit of weight but not so much as to cause it to collapse. The rest of the science I moved to the back matter. 

SB:  This certainly reflects other repots I've heard and my own experiences in writing. That's a truly lovely bit of advice about writing a "song". Writers are so often adviced to start by just "getting it down", then going back to work it more after all the ingredients are on the page. The number of drafts certainly shows in the quality of the text you eventually achieved. I reread the text after your "song" response, and it's advice I'll be using myself. Not because I am a song writer, but because the structure of songs provides an ideal frame for writing effective text-- showcasing particular and figurative language, repetition and rhythms, internal sounds that catch our ears even without being aware of them. Wow! You should be leading a class on narrative nonfiction writing!

Back to my questions: Can you share any surprises, challenges, or delights that rose to the surface during your research for this work/

SR: I discovered transcripts of detailed oral history interviews with S. Chandrasekhar. I was able to read in his own words all that had transpired in his life and work. I ended up reading them again and again even though I didn’t understand much of it and it didn’t relate to the book I was writing. I felt like I got to know Chandra, the man, personally, and my respect for him only grew!

SB: What insights that access must have provided! Your respect for him underscores the entire telling, and likely accounts for why, as a reader, I connected so personally to him. The individual, from curious child to remarkable scientist, felt like someone I knew, or would want to know. Thank you for achieving that. It's a reminder to young people that even the most brilliant and competent folks are humans.

Now a tricky question- How well do you think you understand BLACK HOLES?  Speaking from first-hand experience, my capacity for this aspect of science is at an elementary school level, but I have met some kindergarten kids who have far surpassed my grasp.

SR: Einstein supposedly said: “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

I took this to heart – and made it my business to understand the life and death of stars as best as I could. At the end of it, I think I understood enough to put it down in words. I ran it by those who’re better at physics than I am, until I was satisfied. Also I don’t claim to understand anything beyond the narrow scope of this book. And I have no doubt whatsoever that some child will school me on black holes at some point! They are so much smarter than we are. 

SB: First, I know and love that Einstein quote. Experiences of some of my science-writing friends  support your assumption that kids you meet are entirely likely to pose questions (or offer explanations!) that will boggle your mind. What's great about that is how it makes for a prime example of needing to explore further, or collaborate, or question sources, or any of the other steps that are essential to MOVE science forward! Sounds like fun!

Here's a closing question: Are you able to share any details about upcoming books or projects? In one interview you said that ideas come so fast that you take a whack-a-mole approach to hold some back while working on others. I’m intrigued to know which ones survived the attack!

SR: I have another picture book releasing this November called THE FIRST GIRL ON STAGE: A YAKSHAGANA STORY, published by Sambasivan-Parekh, about a little girl in a remote South Indian village who wants to learn a dance that’s predominantly performed by men. I have another nonfiction PB in the works with the editor of WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL. I have also just gone out on submission with a middle-grade novel-in-verse that I am very excited about.  I’m also plotting a funny MG light fantasy, too. Some more books are brewing for the Indian market as well. 

 SB- Goodness, I can see why you need to keep those popping moles  (ideas) from overtaking your writing life! And yet, the choices you are making leave me eager to read each and every one of the new titles. I hope you'll keep us in the loop here as they become available so I can read and review them. Congratulations on the release and success of WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL, and thanks so much for expanding our interest and understanding of this important story and your journey to capture it for young readers.

Readers, I hope you'll click the many links above to learn more about Shruthi, the new release, her interviews, and even ask your own questions on her web page.  While you're at it, check out some of her other books:

WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL, S&S, JLG Gold Star Selection, Oct 2025

INDIA IN TRIANGLES, PRH India, Jun 2025

THE FIRST GIRL ON STAGE, Yali, Sep 2025

KADOOBOO, Page Street, NYPL Best Book 2024

A MELODY IN MYSORE, PRH, 2024

 

 

WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL (Not a Reference to Current Events)

I had the pleasure of working (virtually) with the author of this book while we shared responsibilities on a nonfiction CYBILS AWARDS panel. I enjoyed her thorough readings and comments, her balanced discussions and considerations of nominees, and her strong science background. That makes recommending this new nonfiction picture book a special pleasure. I would have endorsed it and encouraged readers to give it try if I had never met Shruthi, but now I can also feel an association with her success, although the credit for its excellence is all hers. And today is her new book's BIRTHDAY! Read on and join me in celebrating!

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025

The opening lines of WHEN SCIENCE STOOD STILL: How S. Chandrasekar Predicted the Existence of Black Holes won me over immediately. They come before the title page and that is a design/editorial decision I fully endorse:

"When scientists get things right, 

Science leaps forward.

When they get things wrong, 

they learn from their mistakes,

and science still marches forward.

But sometimes, 

even when scientists get it right,

nobody pays attention.

Then, 

for a while,

science stands still."

Think about that. It certainly made me pause to think. And that 'think time" prior to reading really mattered to me. This new picture book, written by Shruthi Rao and illustrated by Srinidhi Srinivasan, reveals what is to me a heartbreaking astrophysics story. (Does that description also make you think? Heartbreaking and astrophysics in the same sentence?) There are plenty of heartbreaking stories of brilliance in sciences, math, the arts, etc. in which individuals and their discoveries or talents are overlooked or actively suppressed for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons have to do with pride, power, prejudice, or pettiness of the general public or a specifically related access-group. 

I am a fan of both the illustrations and the fluid narrative text for this new story. The cover and the first pages reveal that this was a child, then a growing boy, who sought answers in math and science. He pondered the pages of adult texts in his grandfather's library and then pondered the night skies above the beaches at Madras, India. Weaving together hours of reading, puzzling, and imagining with confirmed facts of science, he arrived at a depth of understanding of how gases work inside stars. Eventually, while still very young, he combined equations and physics and insights to realize that dying stars could implode into black holes, something never yet known to exist.

Born in 1910, this conclusion came into his fertile mind at the age of eighteen. Science had no thoughts of such an entity, although today you could pose the question in many kindergartens:  "What is a black hole?" Most if not all of those littles would give a response that echoes Chandra's breakthrough theory.  At the time, though, this seemed a wild idea pulled from the dark, literally. Even so, his rationale and coherent theory about the nature and physics of stars won high praise among India's esteemed scientists.

The story reveals that this young, well-schooled, already accomplished Indian man longed to pursue further study and credibility in England, in part to prove his worth to those whose government had colonized, dominated, and too often dehumanized the people of India. With strong credentials, including multiple published astrophysics papers, he was given a scholarship from his home country and traveled to England.

Is anyone else guessing that his welcome and acceptance may not have been warm and approving? That was my prediction, but I was pleased to see that a prestigious professor praised and encouraged him, even sponsoring him at an academic gathering to present his paper. Here's where my age and experience had me feeling cautious, that things might not go well. The heartbreak comes with the strong negative reactions from that event, which I'll let you read for yourselves. 

Suffice it to say, it did not go well and the reasons behind it were potentially intentional. Possibly sinister, although that is uncertain. That response did, however, lead to Chandrasekhar eventually moving his studies to the United States, where he gained education, success, even fame for various accomplishments in his field. But not on this topic of Black Holes. What that early rejection did was to SHUT DOWN peer acceptance for his theory. His enthusiasm and solid data for his arguments could not get traction, leaving the concept of Black Holes in an academic black hole for decades. As the text so effectively and concisely states:

"Chandra moved on. But the science of stars stood still."

Eventually, other advances in science, including technology and computers, returned Chandra to this topic in collaboration with scientists from other fields. Advanced telescopes eventually revealed the first view of an actual BLACK HOLE, more than fifty years after he first argued for the concept with math and science to back him up. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in astrophysics. As much as this was a huge honor, he reported that his greatest thrill was having science finally acknowledge the truth of the science of stars. Illustration on the concluding pages offers a callback to the little boy still at the heart of a stargazing man, a personification of  the brilliance of stars. 

Back matter provides a thorough profile of Chandra's life, accomplishments, and intervening events. A timeline of the science related to this topic offers valuable sequential insights. Alongside are short passages relating the science of bombs with the science of black holes, some "Trivia" related to the subject, and resources. 

My heartbreak isn't that this took time (science does) or that a career was crushed (it wasn't) or that generations of students and scientists were denied access to studying this material earlier in their careers (they were). All of those realities are true, not only for this topic but for many others.  None of that is right or good, but is part of the reality within academia.  (SUBJECT TO FUTURE CHANGE, I HOPE?) 

My heartbreak is for that little boy who wanted to understand, who  was convinced answers existed, who found and argued for the truths of his theory, but was denied a legitimate audience for his thoughts. It's the SHUTDOWN of free discussion and consideration of ideas that is both emotionally sad and intellectually infuriating. This is also why this book is so important. 

Not only is this a celebration of a brilliant life. Not only is it an account of the long journey from initial theories to final proving and acceptance. It is a cautionary tale about ways in which truth can be suppressed, but assurance that truth can and will find its way to the light. Even in a black hole of denial. My recommendation to read this and share it could not be stronger. 

On a personal note:

I  share my own insights and values within these posts. I try to do so with openness and awareness that not all may agree with me, but I avoid political or direct conflict discussions. Even so, this book left me with some unavoidable contemporary connections that I feel compelled to share.

Today's news is filled with mixed beliefs, reactions, decrees, and distress, especially regarding the validity or reliability of confirmed science. That struggle is real, becoming more widespread, and makes this new book even more compelling. In a sense, the remarkable account of events in this nonfiction picture book left me with even greater concern about those who today deny proven science based on the claims of others. They might find justification in this approach at overturning proven science, thinking that the contrarian claims will one day be proven to be true, The difference, though, is that disputes with current issues (cause/effect of various conditions, effectiveness and necessity for vaccines, and even the reality of accelerated climate change through human actions) are not discoveries or investigations, math or science realities that reveal new facts. Or even science-based theories. They are, as most grounded thinkers affirm, simply claims. Many have been fully debunked through standard science evaluation. Many may be shaped by the same issues Chandra's work faced-- jealousy, power, even potentially sinister self-serving. None of this is mentioned or even implied in the book, but  such things floated through my mind during and after reading. That title, revealing how SCIENCE can stand still, is chilling. To some degree, the disruption of proven science threatens to make past progress and stability stand still, or worse. I hope you'll read this new book, and also reflect on the intent and background of those who are actively undermining science for their own purposes.

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY, Shruthi! 
Readers, watch for an interview with Shruthi in a post coming soon!