Mapping the Contributions of Female Scientists

For so long women have been footnotes in history, quietly being brilliant in the background while men take credit for all of their incredible work. There has been a movement in kid lit, authors finding the stories of the women behind some of the world’s greatest discoveries and giving us the most wonderful books to help shape our understanding of the contributions of all people to history.

Ocean Speaks by Jess Keating and Katie Hickey introduces young readers the story of Marie Tharp, the woman who mapped the ocean and discovered the mountain ranges that make up the ocean floor. Given the time in history, during the Second World War, Marie was fortunate to become a scientist, a geologist; however her contributions were confined to a small office instead of out in the field. Incredibly, using depth measurements sent back from the field, she created the first map of the ocean floor, discovering the mid-Atlantic ridge, the highest mountain range in the world.

Jess Keating always brings us the stories of incredible female scientists with an elegance that is so engaging and thought provoking. Her’s are not dry tales of scientists from long ago, they are incredible stories that take the reader on an adventure with these trailblazing women. The reader becomes an explorer along with the incredible real scientists in the story.

The illustrations by Katie Hickey are as sparkling as the ocean on a bright sunny day. The depth of blues and greens punctuated with yellows and browns engage the reader and provide so much visual appeal to Jess Keating’s inspiring words.