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    Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
    Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
    Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
    Ebook166 pages1 hour

    Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science

    By Jeannine Atkins

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    This “evocative and beautiful” (School Library Journal) novel “vividly imagines the lives of three girls” (Booklist, starred review) in three different time periods as they grow up to become groundbreaking scientists.

    Maria Merian was sure that caterpillars were not wicked things born from mud, as most people of her time believed. Through careful observation she discovered the truth about metamorphosis and documented her findings in gorgeous paintings of the life cycles of insects.

    More than a century later, Mary Anning helped her father collect stone sea creatures from the cliffs in southwest England. To him they were merely a source of income, but to Mary they held a stronger fascination. Intrepid and patient, she eventually discovered fossils that would change people’s vision of the past.

    Across the ocean, Maria Mitchell helped her mapmaker father in the whaling village of Nantucket. At night they explored the starry sky through his telescope. Maria longed to discover a new comet—and after years of studying the night sky, she finally did.

    Told in vibrant, evocative poems, this stunning novel celebrates the joy of discovery and finding wonder in the world around us.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtheneum Books for Young Readers
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781481465670
    Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
    Author

    Jeannine Atkins

    Jeannine Atkins is the author of books for young readers featuring women in history, including Borrowed Names: Poems about Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C. J. Walker, Marie Curie and their Daughters. She is an adjunct professor at Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She welcomes readers to visit her online at www.jeannineatkins.com.

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    Reviews for Finding Wonders

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      First of all, look at this wonderful cover. Three girls, faces hidden, as these unfamous/unknown women would become. The white sketches around the edges represent the science that each studied.Weirdly, I liked this even though it is written in blank verse. This is the first book I've read like this and it would never be my first choice, but it seems to work here. It might be that using blank verse to tell a science story employs both parts of my brain. I like literature and science and to get both at the same time is pretty cool.The three girls are Maria Sibylla Merian from the late 1600s in Germany; Mary Anning from the early 1800s, in England; and Maria Mitchell from 1800s America. Nice balance of eras and countries, and subjects - creatures, earth and sky.Maria Sibylla Merian was the Painter's Daughter who studied caterpillars and moths and butterflies. Recognized that caterpillars were born from eggs, and documented the life cycle of insects. With her painting background, she also painted the life cycles. Merian travelled to Suriname with her eldest daughter to study bugs in other countries. Nobody in those days just travelled like that.Mary Anning was the Carpenter's Daughter who became expert at finding fossils in the rocks along the shore in southern England. Desperately poor, Mary sold her fossils but then was the first to find a full body dinosaur fossil. Uneducated, she never got any respect and just 'found' the fossils, but she knew as much as anybody about the creatures she found. I knew quite a bit about Anning because I read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. (I highly recommend!)Maria Mitchell was the Mapmaker's Daughter who loved to study the night sky and discovered a comet. She broke away from her Quaker background eventually, and became a teacher of astronomy at Vassar.They all had father's who encouraged their daughter's search for knowledge. They all followed their passion for knowledge. They all were remarkable.Once again, she takes her time sweeping her telescope,slowly as a painter shifting the tip of her brush,or a girl scanning stones. Beauty rambles more than it rushes.There's always more than what's first seen.This is a sample of the blank verse - not so hard to read. It made me even more impressed with the author and how she managed to tell these three stories in such a unique way, short but thorough. (Each biography is only about 60 pages)
    • 4/5
      These prose poems give us a glimpse into the lives of three young girls who challenged their times and made amazing contributions to science. Growing up in Germany in the 1600s, superstitions make it difficult for Maria Merian to study natural creatures such as caterpillars, with locals believing they come from mud (not eggs) and that "even a good girl may turn / into a witch . . ."Mary Anning is raised in England in the 1800s and learns to uncover small fossils from her father. But what happens when she finds the imprint of a huge "sea dragon," challenging the idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old and with no mention of animals like this in the Bible? And is spending time searching for fossils worth it when her family is starving?Maria Mitchell grows up on Nantucket Island in the 1800s. She is financially better off than the first two girls and has a chance to study the stars, but struggles against parts of her Quaker upbringing. And having enough food doesn't prevent people she loves from leaving or dying.Jeannine Atkins has done an excellent job researching the lives of these three young girls who would one day turn into remarkable scientists. The poetic structure and language keep the material from becoming too heavy-handed or dense, a bonus when dealing with scientific concepts.The book begins with a quote from Maria Mitchell and I'll use it to end here:"We especially need imagination in science. It's not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." ~Maria Mitchell, astronomer
    • 3/5
      (from my 8 year old) It was ok the story was pretty nice and I like the ending.

    Book preview

    Finding Wonders - Jeannine Atkins

    The First Secret

    Maria scrapes old paint off her stepfather’s palette

    so he can start again. A few petals fall

    from tulips he’s turning into a still life.

    Maria leans close to watch

    a caterpillar lurch across a leaf. She wonders

    what it’s like to navigate more than one pair of legs.

    Andreas, the green-eyed apprentice, says,

    Don’t stare at shape-shifters. Those have horns!

    He swipes the caterpillar onto the floor and lifts his boot.

    Maria steps past an easel,

    scoops the caterpillar to safety.

    Andreas’s eyes dim almost to brown.

    He says, Caterpillars come from mud

    and can change form. That’s suspicious.

    Maria has heard tales of boys who wake up

    as wolves. And how even a good girl may turn

    into a witch. That word sets hooks under her skin,

    like the tiny barbs on the backs

    of caterpillars’ legs that help them climb.

    No one in Frankfurt has been tied to the stake

    since she was born, but Maria knows that in other

    parts of Germany, girls her age are burned.

    She slips the caterpillar back into the bouquet.

    Evening

    A trumpet blares from a church tower at curfew.

    Maria hears the footsteps of the night watchman

    beyond her bedroom window. His torch casts

    a brief, striped glow through slats in the shutters.

    Her sister, Sara, sets her clogs upside down by their bed,

    a charm to shield them while they sleep.

    Sara, who’s seventeen and certain of much, lights

    one candle. She reminds Maria, Never burn three at once,

    which can summon wicked sprites or imps.

    One flickering flame can warn of witchcraft.

    Maria doesn’t point out that any flame may sputter.

    She used to admire all her sister’s answers,

    but now that she’s thirteen, Maria appreciates

    uncertainty. Questions aren’t like maidens’ ankles,

    meant to be covered by long skirts. Questions aren’t braids

    to be pinned to the back of a head and forgotten.

    Maria pushes away the bedding, smells linen

    and feathers as a moth sky-sails

    toward the candle flame. Its pale wings gleam

    like miniature windows.

    Maria slides from the bed to catch the moth.

    She holds it in the nest of her twined fingers.

    Moths may startle when she speaks,

    unlike ants, who march between food and home,

    or bees, who don’t change course at the sound of a voice.

    She flattens her palm, pulls open the shutters,

    whispers, Flee! The wings stammer,

    but the moth stays on her hand. Is the moth tired

    or has she been trapped inside too long?

    Rules

    Papa holds his hand high in a blessing before breakfast.

    Maria, her parents, sister, two brothers, and the apprentice

    circle the table. Both her brothers and Andreas

    are a little older than Sara, who boasts and frets

    about her upcoming wedding. Their brothers talk

    about work that will soon take them away from home.

    Mama, her hair tucked under a creased white cap,

    sets out sausage, porridge, and rye bread. She pours

    fresh milk from a pitcher, cuts a clean line

    through the crisscrossing crust of apple strudel.

    She says, Maria, please bring what’s left to your uncle.

    Don’t tarry. Keep your frock tidy.

    Sara frowns at Maria’s green stockings, already smudged

    where they show between her frock and wooden shoes.

    She says, You’re too old to crawl under gooseberry bushes.

    A fräulein should stay out of trees and keep away from mud.

    Maria protests, I find blooms for Papa to paint!

    If people catch you with creeping things or wild herbs,

    they’ll think they’re for potions or poisons, Sara warns.

    Maria tucks the pastry into a basket. She hates

    how growing up means more rules instead of fewer.

    She’s supposed to walk slower instead of faster,

    look around less instead of more.

    She ducks under the sign of paints on a palette,

    fills a bucket at the well near the shed where Andreas

    sleeps in straw each night beside the chickens and pigs.

    As Maria leaves the house, Mama kneels on the steps

    and whisks a scrub brush through water.

    Her arms move back and forth like a prayer’s repeated words,

    as if clean stone could keep danger from the door.

    The Silk Mill

    Horses clip-clop on stone streets. Wagons clatter.

    Women wearing green aprons stand before stalls

    selling cabbages, plums, cinnamon water, and cheese

    wound with wax. As Maria gets closer to the river,

    the blue shimmer of a dragonfly catches her gaze.

    Elegantly armored ants, wasps, and long-horned beetles

    creep or flit between gardens and walls.

    Maria crouches to look in mud that may hide seeds

    swept by wind or carried by paws, ripped roots,

    or even cocoons that look like rolled, rotting leaves.

    She’s heard that witches can disguise themselves

    as small flying creatures that curdle cream or spoil butter,

    so are called butter birds or butter flies. She’s never

    seen signs of such. She often calls butterflies

    summer birds, for they fly only during warm weather.

    Maria straightens her back and hurries to the mill.

    She scrapes her clogs at the door,

    where good earth changes to unwelcome dirt,

    and steps into the cocoonery. Boys push

    wheelbarrows heaped with mulberry leaves.

    Barefoot children sort them to make sure none wilt

    or are spotted, then pile good leaves on slatted shelves.

    There, caterpillars gnaw paths through green.

    Older silkworms spin butter-colored cocoons,

    which workers collect, then drop in basins

    of bubbling water. Warmth softens the gum

    and loosens silk strands, which girls snag

    from the water with twigs.

    They reel up strands to twist together. Down the hallway,

    these threads are woven into cloth on loud looms.

    Maria spots a moth fluttering near the floor.

    She kneels and slides a finger under it,

    curving her other hand into a brief home.

    She carries the moth into the small room

    where Uncle Hans works. He says, Guten Tag, and thanks

    her for the strudel. His eyes land on her sheltering hand.

    I like to draw moths, she says. I know folks say

    they must know dark magic because most fly

    only at night or are found near new graves.

    Uncle Hans says, Yet there would be no silk

    ribbons, stockings, or gowns without moths.

    Where do the silkworms come from? Maria asks.

    I don’t see mud in the cocoonery.

    We don’t speak of those beginnings.

    He glances at a silver bottle on his desk.

    I want to know. She wishes her voice didn’t wobble.

    Then tell the workers I said you might take a few

    silkworms and some mulberry leaves for them to eat.

    You’ll need to pick new leaves every day.

    Watch what happens. Perhaps you’ll see

    how silkworms come to be.

    Don’t tell Papa. She lifts the basket

    that held pastry, where she’ll hide the gifts.

    It’s our secret. Uncle Hans looks again

    at the shiny bottle, not much larger than a thimble.

    Some beginnings can barely be seen.

    Paper Houses

    Hiding isn’t hard in a house that bustles

    as Maria’s brothers prepare to leave on apprenticeships.

    Her sister sews her wedding dress, layered

    as a wasp’s nest. Mama is busy with errands and advice.

    No one notices

    Maria creep up a ladder and push open the trapdoor

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