An entire different beautiful world rediscovered and made aware of to the rest of the world by a Black Scientist, Charles S Parker, and his colleagues.

It’s the times in 1880s, Charles’s passion in plants started and showed. He did his most, explored the forests, the mountains and lakes to find them but also got to be aware about the after effects that war caused to the ecological system.

Get to know more about the discoveries and the whole new world of plants!

Amazing write up and art work. I appreciate the further reading references given towards the end.

Thank you, Astra Publishing House, for the advance reading copy.

This book provides a brief look at the energetic, productive career of Charles Stewart Parker, Parker was a teacher-researcher--a Black botanist and mycologist who inspired hundreds of Black students. The book follows his work as he contributes to the research in his field and develops he community-minded goals. The writing is clear and descriptive, and the illustrations are focused and graphic novel style. The back matter includes additional information about Parker, a timeline, a list of other Black botanists and mycologists to know, and an extensive bibliography. This is a well-presented life story of a successful black scientist.

This was a somewhat interesting look at how Charles Parker's passion for plants followed him through his life and how he never stopped pursuing it.

There was a lot of description of Charles searching for plants and roaming through the wilderness and collecting samples, and very little about his life other than the 2-page spread of him in the war which was jarring and didn't seem connected to anything.

I came away feeling like I didn't know anything about him other than his passion for plants, and even that seemed muted from the way the story was written.

It was written as more of a textbook entry than a story and failed to draw me in or interest me in what was happening. Even the illustrations seemed muted and static.

There definitely need to be more books about Black scientists and role models for children I just feel like this one needs a little more spark to really catch kids' interest.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Calkins Creek for providing an early copy for review.

This children's biography illuminates the life of scientist Charles S. Parker, whose work spanned multiple fields and decades. He was "the first" in many areas and used his influence to lift other Black children into the field of science through his work as a professor at Howard University.

The biography encompasses most of Parker's life. He was a reporter, soldier, scientist (botanist and mycologist, specifically), explorer, and professor. That certainly kept my interest throughout the book, and I think it will fascinate young readers also.

I found the explanations of scientific concepts and botany were very clear and will make the text accessible to young readers.

Finally, I loved the illustrations. They were done in a cartoony style and were relatively simple, but I think that graphic style will draw in young readers, especially since so many of them are graphic novel fans.

Although the field of botany is pretty niche and the subject of the biography widely unknown, I am looking forward to purchasing this for our children's biography collection at the public library. The selling points of STEM and centering Black voices will be strong in my library.