A nice review from Texas

It is rare that an informational book is both lyrical and informative.

Award-winning author, Kathryn Lasky has accomplished that in She Caught the Light: Williamina Stevens Fleming: Astronomer (Illustrated by Julianna Swaney, Harper, 2021, 32 pages, $18.99). Mina was born in 1857 in Scotland, where her father was a photographer. Lasky’s stellar use of metaphor is combined with the illustrator’s talent to create magical pages that take one’s breath away. She describes going into her father’s darkroom ”… to see the magic as the faces of a family portrait emerged on the plates, melting out of the darkness like stars in the night.” Fleming immigrated to Boston, where she worked first as a maid for the director of the Harvard College Observatory. In her short lifetime she broke many barriers, discovering the Horsehead Nebula, classifying more than 10,000 stars, creating a portrait of the universe astronomers would use for a century. Fleming also became the first woman to hold a titled position at Harvard University. Treat yourself to this wonderful book, and read it aloud to someone, child or adult!

Jean Greenlaw, Librarian