Galaxy Mapper: The Luminous Discoveries of Astrophysicist Hélène Courtois

Gr 2-4–In this appealing childhood-to-adulthood biography of Hélène Courtois, readers experience the wonders of the natural world and the cosmos. As a child growing up in rural France, Courtois loved to explore and learn about the world through maps and questions. When she sees the aurora borealis, she begins to use the sky as her anchor. The author glosses over the sexism Courtois dealt with as a university student; when Courtois focuses on plasma physics, there’s no explanation within the text of how plasma physics relates to the mapping of galaxies. Also missing are lay terms for some of the scientific vocabulary: luminosity is explained as the method of using the brightness of a star to determine its distance, with no real example of how that science works. With approximately 50 words per page and full-color cherubic illustrations, the book will send curious readers to other sources for a better grounding in the science. Back matter includes an appendix with a glossary, a bibliography, guidance on where to look at stars, and short biographies of other famous women scientists mentioned. ­