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Fearless World Traveler: Adventures of Marianne North, Botanical Artist

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Fearless World Traveler: Adventures of Marianne North, Botanical Artist

Hardcover

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Hardcover
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Overview

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 they'd never seen before.

As a self-taught artist and scientist, Marianne North subverted Victorian 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 North's 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 Stadtlander's award-winning lush, verdant artwork pairs wonderfully with the natural themes.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year
An NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823439591
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	05/11/2021
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.29(w) x 10.27(h) x 0.36(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Laurie Lawlor is a prolific and celebrated author of children's books. Her picture book biography Rachel Carson and her Book That Changed the World was named a Bank Street Best Children's 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.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

03/22/2021
In this captivating picture book biography, Lawlor tells how Marianne North (1830–1890), born into great wealth in England, faced a total lack of support for her interests in music, art, and botany: “Marianne’s mother said she was wasting her time.” Trapped into a caretaking role until her father’s death, she finally found freedom at age 40. She began to travel the world alone, painting the pictures of flowers and plants that fill her namesake gallery in London’s Kew Gardens. Lawlor’s narrative of North’s astounding journeys on steamships, camels, and canoes weaves in direct quotes that capture her irrepressible spirit—“Did I not paint?... And wander and wonder at everything?” Stadtlander’s 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 North’s intrepid and privileged life. Ages 6–9. (May)

Publishers Weekly

★ "The illustrations are beautifully done, with attention and care carrying the spirit of North’s 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

"captivating . . . Stadtlander’s 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 North’s intrepid and privileged life."—Publishers Weekly

"Stadtlander’s 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

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2021
Gr 2–4—This is a splendid account of Marianne North, who was born in England in 1830. Options for women in that time period were negligible. Her interests were music, drawing, painting, and exploring the natural world. Going to soirees and preparing herself for running a household bored her to tears. After her mother died, North did end up running her father's household as a dutiful daughter would but continued her study of botany and recorded specimens in her paintings. It was when her father died that she was finally able to do what it was she wanted, trekking all over the world and recording botanical and wildlife examples. North's paintings and her contribution to the botanical and natural sciences of the time were extraordinary (her paintings are the only images left of some extinct animals and plants), as was her determination to pursue goals that most women at the time could not. The illustrations are beautifully done, with attention and care carrying the spirit of North's paintings throughout. Back matter is included. This book would pair well with Barbara Cooney's Eleanor, covering another independent and courageous woman who gave back to the world. VERDICT A must for all libraries. This is an impeccably attuned biography of a woman who broke the rules to the benefit of all.—Joan Kindig, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

School Library Journal

2021-03-17
An introduction to a prolific painter with a love for all species.
Marianne North was dissuaded by her family from playing music, cultivating her artistic talent, and pursuing an education; her main job was to find a wealthy husband—someone like her father. But from her teens, Pop, as she was nicknamed, devoted her life to painting the flora and fauna of our world. North spent the majority of her adult life traveling to far-off places. When she finally ran out of room for her paintings in her own home in London, she opened a museum: the Marianne North Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which was an instant success and is still open today—one of the oldest exhibitions by a woman artist in the world. Stadtlander’s 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. They depict the White protagonist alone during her travels. A double-page spread of North riding an elephant is exquisite and serene. The small print could pose difficulties for young readers reading this book alone, so it’s good that the illustrations’ colors are bright and bold enough for a group read-aloud. 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. North’s own paintings appear on the endpapers, fully attesting to her talent.
A life full of adventure with a lasting legacy. (biographical note, sources, source notes, character list) (Picture book/biography. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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