This picture book follows the life of Williamina Stevens Fleming, as she pioneered spectrography and astronomy while overcoming huge obstacles in her life.

This book is filled with beautiful writing and images that help make the writing come to life. The book would be great for a young girl that is learning. I think the best age group would be for a 3-5th grader. ( )

This is a biography describing the life of Williamina Stevens Fleming. The illustrations in the book are beautifully captured and grab the reader's attention. The book does a great job of bringing to light discrimination towards women during this particular time period in a way children can understand, and how Mina overcame them. This would be an amazing addition to a classroom because it can empower girls in your classroom, and even boys that wish to become astrologers one day. This would be best for an intermediate audience and late primary such as 1st or 2nd grade. ( )

This book tells the story of Williamina "Mina" Fleming and how she became a pioneer in the role of women in Astronomy. This book is great to read to students of any age. The pictures provide depth and emotion to the story, and the book is easy to follow. This book is also empowering to young girls who may think that they could never have a job in science. ( )

Author Kathryn Lasky and illustrator Julianna Swaney join forces in this picture-book biography of Williamina "Mina" Stevens Fleming, a self-educated Scotswoman who emigrated to the United States, eventually becoming an astronomer, and the first woman to hold an official position at Harvard University. It was largely through her relationship with Professor Edward Pickering, for whom she worked as a maid when she first came to Boston, that Mina gained access to her first position in the field of astronomy, becoming the first of the "human computers" - women who made calculations based on astronomical observations - whose work would become an important cornerstone of scientific endeavor in the field. Mina classified the spectra of over 10,000 stars, discovered the Horsehead Nebula, and was appointed curator of astronomical photography at Harvard. This despite having had no formal education, and raising her son on her own...

Published earlier this year (2021), She Caught the Light: Williamina Stevens Fleming: Astronomer is the latest in a recent spate of picture-book biographies of women scientists whose accomplishments have been hitherto overlooked. Picking it up, I was reminded of such titles as Robert Burleigh and Raúl Colón's Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer, or Emily Arnold McCully's Caroline's Comets: A True Story, both of which tell the story of woman astronomers who were ahead of their time. I found Lasky's narrative here engaging, and appreciated learning a little bit more about Fleming, whose accomplishments have been largely overlooked. Although Fleming's story is included in Dava Sobel's 2016 The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, published for adults, this picture-book appears to be the first title (for any audience) devoted specifically to her. I find it valuable, for that reason, and I appreciated the back matter - timeline, glossary, author's note, bibliography - included at the rear. The illustrations from Julianna Swaney, whose credits includes the artwork in another picture-book biography of a woman scientist - Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children - are done in watercolor, gouache and colored pencil, and are quite sweet.

All in all, an informative and engaging title, one I would recommend to picture-book readers who enjoy biography, or are interested in science, astronomy, or groundbreaking women. ( )