About the Book The vibrant and daring life of Marianne North, a self-taught artist and scientist who subverted Victorian gender roles and advanced the field of botanical illustration-- Book Synopsis Scientist. Artist. Rule-breaker. The vibrant and daring life of Marianne North by the award-winning author of Super Women and Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World . In 1882, Marianne North showed the gray city of London paintings of jaw-dropping greenery like theyd never seen before. As a self-taught artist and scientist, Marianne North challenged gender roles and advanced the field of botanical illustration. Her technique of painting specimens in their natural environment was groundbreaking. The legendary Charles Darwin was among her many supporters. Laurie Lawlor deftly chronicles Norths life, from her restrictive childhood to her wild world travels to the opening of the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens to her death in 1890. The North gallery at Kew Gardens remains open to the public today. Becca Stadtlanders award-winning lush, verdant artwork pairs wonderfully with the natural themes. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection An NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students Review Quotes Illustrated in rich colors. . . .-- The Wall Street Journal The illustrations are beautifully done, with attention and care carrying the spirit of Norths paintings throughout. . . . This is an impeccably attuned biography of a woman who broke the rules to the benefit of all. -- School Library Journal , Starred Review Lawlors biography captures both Mariannes spirit and the restrictive norms of the time, which couldnt hold back this daring naturalist. --Booklist captivating . . . Stadtlanders vibrant watercolor and ink illustrations capture details--gimlet-eyed crocodiles, patterned carpet bags, a crab scuttling over a paint-smeared palette, marauding crows stealing glittering tubes of paint--that conjure the rich peculiarities of Norths intrepid and privileged life. --Publishers Weekly Fascinating and detailed. . . . -- The Horn Book Stadtlanders artwork is intricate and full of detail. She includes almost every shade of green imaginable in her illustrations, which are lush and rich with life both extant and extinct. . . . Plenty of backmatter makes this book an excellent starting point both for further research and to teach children how much work goes into creating a nonfiction book. --Kirkus Reviews Lawlor follows not only Norths adventuring but also her innovative approach to nature painting, which celebrated the riotous colors of her specimens and captured them in their natural context, with attention to atmosphere and well as solid surroundings. Stadtlanders mixed-media paintings strike a similar balance between travels and nature study, and her double-page spread of a Kew gallery affords her young audience a glimpse at how museumgoers experience Norths work in her own time and today. Exemplary end matter expands on the importance of Norths work and its Kew Gardens home, comments on the editing of Norths biography, and includes source notes and a whos who list of luminaries in Norths social circle. -- The Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books About the Author Laurie Lawlor is a prolific and celebrated author of childrens books. Her picture book biography Rachel Carson and her Book That Changed the World was named a Bank Street Best Childrens Book of the Year and a National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book and received the John Burroughs Riverby Award. Her Super Women: Six Scientists Who Changed the World was named a NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book. She lives and teaches in the Chicago metropolitan area. Becca Stadtlander is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. She won the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration for Made By Hand: A Craft Sampler . She also illustrated On the Wing by David Elliott, which received two starred reviews as well as a Golden Kite Award. She attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and currently lives and works in her hometown of Covington, Kentucky.