KATI'S TINY MESSENGERS

The story of a Hungarian-born researcher whose childhood fascination with science led to a central role in the development of one of the first effective vaccines against the Covid-19 virus.

In a personal message at the end, Katalin Karikó herself urges young people, girls especially, who dream of becoming scientists to go for it! Her story, as Hoyt tells it, reflects that determined attitude—tracing a career that included emigrating from Hungary to the United States (with forbidden but needed cash secretly stuffed into her daughter’s teddy bear) and sticking to studies of cellular biology through years of funding difficulties and failed experiments. If her prose does sometimes take a giddy turn (“But Kati’s mind never took a break. Messenger RNA danced through her dreams and filled up her days”), the author presents clear pictures of her subject’s character as well as achievements, culminating in a suspenseful account of the vaccine’s human trials in 2020. Along with fuller explanations of DNA, messenger RNA, and how mRNA vaccines work, the backmatter includes nods to colleagues and photos…including one of that teddy bear. The light-skinned cast in Mildenberger’s bright, transparently hued illustrations gives way to a more diverse one in later scenes of isolated families and masked medical workers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An inspiring profile of a scientist making history.