Caroline's Comets:True Story

Reviewed by: Kathy George - Gray publlic Library, Gray, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: July 11, 2017

Review

With text from Caroline Herschel's own memoir and correspondence, Emily Arnold McCully introduces younger readers to"the Hunter of Comets",one of the world's greatest astronomers .Born into a family of musicians, Caroline was stricken by both typhus and small pox as a child which left her scarred and stunted in growth,she was used by her family as a maid. McCully's picture book biography tells Caroline's story. A story that takes her from her home in Germany to her brother's home in England where she and her brother realize their passion for astronomy and become "astronomers to the King." With McCully's signature writing style and illustrations, the reader meets two little known giants in science,William, the builder of the most powerful telescope since Galileo's in 1609, and the discoverer of the planet Uranus, and Caroline, who discovers 8 comets and becomes the first woman to be paid for her work. This is a welcomed addition to a curriculum on women, scientists,and astronomy.

Overall Book Score: excellent