Foote Was First! How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change

Bryant renders pioneering climate scientist Eunice Newton Foote (1819–1888) as driven by profound curiosity in this appreciative portrayal. During the subject’s childhood in the U.S., “questions sprouted in her mind as quickly as wheat in the fields,” and admission to a girls’ school provides a unique opportunity to learn science. Utilizing historical quotations (including from Frederick Douglass), sharply written prose acknowledges the subject’s involvement in the suffrage movement before describing her curiosity about Earth’s warming temperatures and the ingenious experiment she designs that reveals the relationship between those temps and carbon dioxide. Indicating that “because Eunice was curious, she was the very first,” plainspoken lines discuss how Foote’s work has nevertheless been ignored in favor of a male scientist’s later research, before ending with a call for climate awareness. Relying heavily on earthy greens, muddy-toned colored pencil and watercolor illustrations use careful outlines in emphasizing Foote at work, elegantly underscoring the way the protagonist’s life has finally been brought into focus. Background characters are largely depicted with pale skin. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)