Scientist. Artist. Rule-breaker. The vibrant and daring life of Marianne North by the award-winning author of Super Women and Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World.In 1882, Marianne North showed the gray city of London paintings of jaw-dropping greenery like they'd never seen
before.
As a self-taught artist and scientist, Marianne North subverted Victorian gender roles and advanced the field of botanical illustration. Her technique of painting specimens in their natural environment was groundbreaking. The legendary Charles Darwin was among her many supporters.
Laurie Lawlor deftly chronicles North's life, from her restrictive childhood to her wild world travels to the opening of the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens to her death in 1890. The North gallery at Kew Gardens remains open to the public today.
Becca Stadtlander's award-winning lush, verdant artwork pairs wonderfully with the natural themes.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionA Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year An NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students
On sale: May 11, 2021
Age: 6-9 years
Grade: Grades 1-4
Page count: 48 Pages
ISBN: 9780823439591
Reading level: Fountas/Pinnell: V
Laurie Lawlor is a prolific and celebrated author of children's books. Her picture book biography
Rachel Carson and her Book That Changed the World was named a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year and a National Science
Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book and received the John Burroughs Riverby Award. Her
SuperWomen: Six Scientists Who Changed the World was named a NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book. She lives and teaches in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Becca Stadtlander is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. She won the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book
Illustration for
Made By Hand: A Craft Sampler. She also illustrated
On the Wing by David Elliott, which received two
starred reviews as well as a Golden Kite Award. She attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and currently lives and works in her hometown of Covington, Kentucky.
"Illustrated in rich colors. . . ."—
The Wall Street Journal ★
"The illustrations are beautifully done, with attention and care carrying the spirit of North’s paintings throughout. . . . This is an impeccably attuned biography of a woman who broke the rules to the benefit of all."
—School Library Journal, Starred Review "Lawlor’s biography captures both Marianne’s spirit and the restrictive norms of the time, which couldn’t hold back this daring naturalist."
—Booklist "captivating . . . Stadtlander’s vibrant watercolor and ink illustrations capture details—gimlet-eyed crocodiles, patterned carpet bags, a crab scuttling over a paint-smeared palette, 'marauding crows' stealing 'glittering tubes of paint'—that conjure the rich peculiarities of North’s intrepid and privileged life."
—Publishers Weekly "Fascinating and detailed. . . ."
—The Horn Book "Stadtlander’s artwork is intricate and full of detail. She includes almost every shade of green imaginable in her illustrations, which are lush and rich with life both extant and extinct. . . . Plenty of backmatter makes this book an excellent starting point both for further research and to teach children how much work goes into creating a nonfiction book."
—Kirkus Reviews "Lawlor follows not only North’s adventuring but also her innovative approach to nature painting, which celebrated the riotous colors of her specimens and captured them in their natural context, with attention to atmosphere and well as solid surroundings. Stadtlander’s mixed-media paintings strike a similar balance between travels and nature study, and her double-page spread of a Kew gallery affords her young audience a glimpse at how museumgoers experience North’s work in her own time and today. Exemplary end matter expands on the importance of North’s work and its Kew Gardens home, comments on the editing of North’s biography, and includes source notes and a who’s who list of luminaries in North’s social circle."
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
