BEATRIX POTTER, SCIENTIST

The scientific passions of a beloved children’s-book creator.

Beatrix Potter is revered for her classic children’s tales, but many will be unaware of her love of science. Soft, smudged pictures in Potter’s palette accompany informative prose infused with a childlike wonder at the natural world, and together they depict young Beatrix’s fascination with the landscape of Scotland, various animals, and, later, the study of mushrooms. Unsupported by her family, largely self-educated, and armed with microscope, paper, and pencil, Potter works with Scottish naturalist Charles McIntosh for years, exchanging samples and artwork until she is among the first to sprout spores in Britain. Initially rejected due to sexism, Beatrix struggles to make her findings known through a male colleague, is told that more work is required, and then mysteriously ceases her work. “What makes her stop? Does she suspect she will never be taken seriously as a scientist? Does she begin to doubt herself? Like pages ripped from a book, history holds those secrets,” the text wonders. While Peter Rabbit and company might never have come into being had Potter not switched her focus, readers and listeners will see how the ambitions of a budding woman scientist were effectively quashed, perhaps leading them to object to the unfairness of her treatment and to wonder what other discoveries go unmentioned due to inequality. All characters are White.

An unusual combination of women’s history and science that shows not all questions can be answered.