Marie Curie: A Brilliant Life (Snapshots: Images of People and Places in History) - Softcover

Elizabeth MacLeod has written many children's books, including nine titles in the Snapshots Biography series, numerous titles in the Kids Can Read, Kids Books Of and Kids Can Do It series, Why Do Horses Have Manes?, What Did Dinosaurs Eat?, and Monster Fliers. She lives in Toronto.

From the Kids Can Read Alone series, this biography introduces Marie Curie’s life and work. It begins with her early years in Poland, where women could not attend university (she worked to earn enough to study science in Paris). The book also touches upon her marriage to Pierre Curie; her discovery of polonium and radium, which led to two Nobel Prizes; and ends with her fatal illness and her stature as “the most famous woman scientist.” MacLeod, who earlier wrote a biography of the scientist for middle-grade students, does a good job presenting Marie Curie to even younger readers. The book clearly communicates the importance of this scientist’s achievements as well as her willingness to sacrifice personal comfort in pursuit of her goals; for instance, she drove X-ray machines to battlefields during World War I. A full-color illustration appears on each page. Though the figure drawing is a little awkward at times, the pictures add to the book’s appeal and help to define the people, the places, and the period in Curie’s life. Grades K-3. --Carolyn Phelan