WOMEN IN BIOLOGY

Wissinger and Pioli kick off a new series of informational picture books looking at women in STEM.

A curious, bespectacled protagonist explores the world around her through the study of living things and the discoveries of women scientists who helped lay the foundations of biology as we know it today. From the bugs that creep and crawl to the bugs that make you sick, and along the way taking shallow dives into cell theory and DNA, Wissinger gives a primer on biology’s basics while highlighting the unique contributions of Hildegard of Bingen, Jane Cooke Wright, and Barbara McClintock, among others. Portraits of these scientists are all reproduced at the end along with phonetic pronunciations of their names in a sort of matching game, and a two-page glossary closes the book, defining such disparate terms as biology, the Nobel Prize, and transposons. Pioli’s illustrations give these women of science a Disney-princess vibe for broad appeal while vibrant colors bring anatomy and cell structures to life. With the notable exception of Dr. Wright, the scientists depicted are White women while the protagonist of color’s medium brown skin, green eyes, and dark hair make her racially and ethnically ambiguous. A Spanish edition publishes simultaneously.

A welcome primer on biological science in which the contributions of women take center stage.