Thomas Jefferson’s Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose!

K-Gr 4–Thomas Jefferson loved to observe the natural world and meticulously took notes on it. However, when a French author, Count Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, published an encyclopedia of the American natural world, Jefferson was outraged. The French author had never visited America, and yet he presented America’s wildlife as inferior in his book. Along with facts about American history, Anderson tells how Jefferson proceeded to use the scientific method to prove the count wrong. The illustrator uses a comic book format with look-alike scientific journal pages to illustrate the battle between the French and American naturalists. The quirky illustrations will appeal to elementary students, highlighting the scientific inquiry process. Story time discussions could include the topics of presidents, the scientific method, and the pursuit of truth. The book is well researched and includes a bibliography and time line of Jefferson’s life.