Green Promises

January 1, 2025
A biographical verse novel about women born decades apart who followed their passions to become pioneers in their respective scientific fields. Irish American Mary Agnes discovered her love for drawing and observing patches of nature around her late-19th-century Chicago home as a child. She dreamed of studying botany but left school after eighth grade, working as a newspaper proofreader to help her struggling family. For years she did illustrations on the side, eventually becoming a botanical illustrator at the Smithsonian Institution and, later, a senior botanist. In early-20th-century Washington, D.C., young Marguerite studied the rocks and soil along the Anacostia River. She was torn between her burgeoning dream of being a teacher and the need to help her family financially. As a Black girl, Marguerite struggled to allow herself to admit her ambitions, but, surrounded by trailblazing Black women, she persevered, ultimately chairing the geography department at Miner Teachers College and becoming the first African American person to earn a PhD in geology. This story, rich in historical details, is a love letter to the power of individuals to bring about change and uplift others. Atkins deftly brings Mary Agnes Chase's and Marguerite Thomas Williams' environments and scientific pursuits to life through language that's alternately poetic and direct, making the decades of history she covers both thought-provoking and accessible to young readers. An inspiring account of women who pursued scientific excellence and opened doors for others. (author's note, timelines, character notes)(Verse historical fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2025
Grades 5-8 Three girls' lives and love of science and nature intersect in this historical novel in verse that spans nearly 70 years. Alternating chapters take readers into the childhood lives and coming-of-age of Mary Agnes Chase (grass expert), Marguerite Thomas Williams (geologist), and Sophie Mack Lutterlough (researcher at the Smithsonian Institute) to create portraits of these women who would pave the way for other women in the natural sciences. Though the story's pacing sometimes lags, the switches between perspectives allow it to move smoothly from the more engaging childhood chapters through their young adult and adult years. While the stories offer readers new histories to unpack and new role models to discover, the reader appeal varies between each narration and will require a reader to work a bit harder than many novels in verse traditionally might. Astute and a bit esoteric at times, the strength of this triple biography in verse is in what it offers for the shelves--a new look at underappreciated women of science, a topic that Atkins is deeply committed to.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.