Title : The Kid Who Named Pluto:
And the Stories of Other Extraordinary
Young People in Science
Author : Marc McCutcheon
Illustrator : Jon Cannell
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN : 0811854515
This book profiles nine people who made significant contributions to science while still quite young. The Pluto chapter says about the 11-year-old Venetia Burney, with more space devoted to the process by which planets get named, while the Isaac Asimov chapter follows his whole life and career. This varied emphasis keeps the material fresh and shows the diverse circumstances from which youthful inspiration can arise. At the age of 14, Philo T. Farnsworth sketched a device that would, many refinements later, become known as the television set. Mary Anning, the British "Princess of Paleontology," was the first to discover an Ichthyosaur specimen at age 12!
Most of the figures are historical, but the inclusion of a couple of young geniuses from the 1990s adds contemporary perspective. The lively and lighthearted text conveys a sense of the excitement of discovery, with an appropriate amount of background information, along with the biographical facts. There are a few tips on how kids can follow in the footsteps of these young achievers, but there's more emphasis on the general qualities of curiosity and hard work that can produce amazing results. Though, for some, their major contributions occurred when they were adults, he correctly emphasizes their childhood precocity and hard work at their projects.
This varied emphasis keeps the material fresh and shows the diverse circumstances from which youthful inspiration can arise. The book also covers: Robert Goddard, who invented the science of rocketry, Sarah Flannery, a girl who invented a new secret code, Truman Henry Stafford, a boy who was a lightning calculator, Emily Rosa, a fourth grader whose science experiment debunked a medical procedure, Louis Braille, who invented the Braille system of writing for the blind. Further readings are appended; source notes would have made this even better.
Childlike art and occasional photos illustrate the text. Cannell's sketches, often mimicking doodles in a lab notebook, convey the enthusiasm that links all the subjects. The lively cartoon pen-and-ink illustrations, all in greens and grays, help to unify the individual chapters also. However, the young readers won't mind that the organizing principle is a bit elastic; the stories themselves remain interesting and inspiring. As a whole, this updated collection of stories about exceptional young inventors and scientific pioneers, can help curious and smart kids to start off contributing to future science.
(Book Review Text Couttesy: http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.chroniclebooks.com/, http://www.amazing-kids.org/,
http://www.askmagkids.com/)
