NONFICTION

Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom

by Teresa Robeson (text) & illus. by Rebecca Huang
Sterling. Oct. 2019. 48p. bibliog. further reading. glossary. Tr $16.95. ISBN 9781454932208.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2–This biographic picture book chronicles the life of Wu Chien Shiung, with a focus on her career success in physics, as well as obstacles she overcame as an Asian woman, her political advocacy, and her contributions to science. The book also contains a lot of history specific to the last turn of the 20th century. Huang’s pictures are in full color. On each page, the text amounts to less than a quarter of the page. The vocabulary and text concepts are advanced for a picture book, but key terms can be found in the glossary. The book’s format seems best suited for second to third grade readers.
VERDICT This book would make an excellent supplement to support diverse representation, especially about women scientists and/or Asian women battling and overcoming sexism and racism. However, the difficulty of the language and the grade level of the text make it a bit out of reach for the average picture book reader.
Reviewed by Jenifer Pickens, Rippon Middle School, Woodbridge, VA , Sep 27, 2019

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