Do you know Cecilia Payne? Well since she passed in 1979 so the odds are you do not/did not know her, but in The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of you can meet her on the page.
Due in February 2023, I read Kirsten W. Larson’s book via online through Edelweiss. The story was a little confusing at first as there are two parts going on simultaneously.
The first is a star is born (we see how the stars are created, and their cycle in a very introductory manner), and the second is a young English girl growing up in the early 20th century. We see her cry out to play in the snow (only it was not what she expected), we see her be the only woman in her class, and we see how she made her mark on science and astrophysics.
While the book does not go into great depth into the life of Payne, we are introduced in a way that makes the story accessible to almost all ages. It is not for the very young, or the “active child” but for the child looking for something different, a classroom setting for women’s history and/or science history it would work well.
Katherine Roy supports the text with “medium illustrations.” They are not too much, too colorful, too detailed, or too anything. They sit perfectly on the page, allowing a window into everything. They are the perfect match to the content and subject matter by supporting and being its own thing. The art is its own character.