Beatrix Potter, Scientist

Picture biography, 32 pages. Potter, a beloved children's author, was first an amateur mycologist presenting her research on mushrooms & fungi to England's foremost botanists. Published in 2020 by Albert Whitman and Company.

"How do fungi survive the winter? Do they spread underground? Is it true that spores sprout like seeds?

"She wrecks her parents' London kitchen in her hunger for answers. She concocts a solution to nudge the spores to life. Toiling day and night in her ramshackle lab, Beatrix zooms in with a microscope to check and record her specimens. She can taste the breakthrough that is sure to come."

---

Lindsay Metcalf & Junyi Wu

Metcalf writes and edits books for the young and curious. No Voice Too Small, Fourteen Young Americans Making History and Farmers Unite! are both award winning books and will fascinate young activists.

Wu's work in colored pencil, watercolor, charcoal and digital Photoshop creates layered, dream-like illustrations which make them eminently accessible to young readers. Wu is also the illustrator of Scary Stories for Young Foxes which was reviewed at Stories Matter last October.

---

Book Recap

We think of Potter as a the author and illustrator of unusual stories about animals. But she came to writing children's stories as a scientist fascinated with mycology - the study of mushrooms and fungi! Unfortunately, her research and presentations were unacknowledged by the scientific community because she was a woman.

Learning Options

Family Read Aloud Time
The illustrations in this book wil enchant children -- they may even want to create their own crayon drawings.

Learning at Home
There is a plethora of resources for teaching Beatrix Potter at home. My favorites include

• Craft activities at Peter Rabbit
  
• BBC School Radio: Tales of Beatrix Potter
• BBC Earth: Beatrix Potter, Pioneer Scientist or Passionate Amateur?

Classroom Options
At Edusitement, there is a fascinating K-5 unit of language arts lessons, Beatrix Potter's Naughty Animal Stories, focused on comparing Victorian childhood with today's childhood.  

---