Book Review - Women in Science - 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky is the perfect book families to have around the house.  The book profiles 50 “fearless pioneers who changed the world”, giving brief stories of their lives and their scientific accomplishments.

Each of the profiles is accompanied by very artistic drawings of each woman and sketches of the work they conducted.  The drawings of each scientist make them appear to be floating in a dream and are beautiful to look at.  The full page story of each scientist is packed with with fun information and does get detailed about their work.  Each profile includes the drawing of the woman on the left with additional art surrounding them, the page on the right includes their name and scientific field along with additional factoids about them.  One interesting design choice is that the year of birth and death are only included in the table of contents and not on each page.

I have been making my way through this book with my 7 year old daughter for a few weeks and we both are enjoying it deeply.  The artwork draws her in then she reads the stories and relays new facts that she’s learned.  This book profiles many scientists that I was previously unfamiliar with (and I’m a scientist) and I find that extremely interesting.  We both enjoy the vast array of scientists the book covers, starting from Hypatia in ancient Egypt and ending with Maryam Mirzakhani who is a mathematician from Iran.

The book also features a handful of informational pages including a guide to lab equipment, additional women scientists and a glossary of terms.  Each of these is very useful, my daughter loves the lab equipment page and I find the Glossary to well written and illustrated.

The book is hardcover with a nice metallic silver titling (think liquid silver pen from your childhood), the inside cover is a full page spread of beautiful scientifica artwork.  Each page is slightly glossy and made of a sturdy paper.

This book is really for all ages with the help of an adult or a solid third grade reader could enjoy it on their own.  My daughter and I both love this book, the stories and the illustrations and I seem to find it in a different room at home everyday showing that she keeps picking it up.  I would recommend this book for families interested in science and especially for those with girls who love to dream and be inspired.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.