Who Is a Scientist?

Starred review from October 1, 2021
Profiles of a diverse selection of 14 21st-century scientists reveal a wide range of specialties and avocations. To answer her title question, Gehl introduces working scientists, spread by spread, with a relatively simple text and two photographs--one at work and one at play. From meteorologist to agroecologist to software engineer, from laboratory to desert to forest, her examples represent a variety of occupational fields and workplaces. Their hobbies--painting, cooking, surfing, playing basketball or soccer, listening to live music, and so forth--are equally varied. The photographs also reflect the world's diversity: There's a White woman with magenta hair and colorfully tattooed arms, a Black belly dancer in classic costume, a Puerto Rican champion of Indigenous food systems, and a White man who uses forearm crutches to get about in the field. A neuroscientist wears a Sikh turban; an astronomer, a headscarf. As might be expected with such a range, some readers may find some scientists' names challenging to pronounce, but the backmatter includes a phonetic guide to every single name--even the neuroscientist author's. A final spread summarizes what scientists do and invites readers to imagine themselves among this group. Both selection of information and presentation have been thoughtfully designed to appeal to young readers. This will be useful in many a second or third grade classroom, and the publisher has made a teaching guide and video available. Convincing evidence that readers, too, might become scientists. (Nonfiction. 6-9)

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