By Lindsay H. Metcalf

Written in a variety of verse forms, this is an interesting biography of the mother of climate science who was  overshadowed in the history of science by men who claimed their spots after her, but in her limelight. Eunice Newton Foote was a scientist, inventor, mother, and political activist in a time when women rarely got to claim their acknowledgements. This verse biography spans her lifetime from 1819 to her death in 1888. It covers women’s role in science education, membership in scientific organizations, the history of early patents (& who was allowed to claim them), women’s civil rights, the Civil war and the subsequent Reconstruction era. The book ends with one final poem about 2010 when a retired petroleum geologist comes upon an old book with her paper on climate science from 1856, predating the one by John Tyndall in 1859. 

I learned a lot of history in this book, including the life of one pretty amazing woman. I enjoyed they variety of poetic forms. Most are free verse, but some are long, some short, some are more concrete in form. I hope this fascinating book finds readers who will enjoy it as much as I did!