Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
May 1, 2019/in Picture Information Book 8-10 Junior/Middle /by Ellie
BfK Rating:
BfK 236 May 2019
Reviewer: Jill Bennett
ISBN: 978-1419725517
Price: £12.99
Publisher: Abrams Books
Genre: Picture Information Book
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 48pp
Buy the Book

The Bluest of Blues

Author: Fiona Robinson

This absolutely beautiful picture book biography looks at the life of British botanist Anna Atkins who is acknowledged as one of the first women in the world to take a photograph as well as one of the very first people to publish a book of photographic images.  The author-illustrator Fiona Robinson uses a time-line to tell Anna’s amazing story, featuring key moments in the scientist’s life.

Anna’s interest in the natural world and in particular plants, was fostered by her widowed father, scientist and entomologist John Children, who took it upon himself to give his much-loved daughter the best education possible at a time when few girls were schooled at all. He taught her chemistry, physics, zoology and botany, as well as Latin and she became his partner in research, studying specimens together.

Anna’s marriage to John Pelly Atkins in London sees her continuing dedicating herself to creating a herbarium and becoming ever more eager to share her work with a wide audience; if only there was a way to make an accurate copy of her collection, she thinks. When she moves with her husband and now retired father to Kent, Anna’s father gives her an exciting present – one of the very first cameras ever made.

Father and daughter together explore their shared interests and meet astronomer, scientist and experimenter, Sir John Herschel who introduces them to cyanotope, the chemical reaction of which produces permanent images. Anna knows just what she wants to use cyanotopes for: to publish the very first book that brings together botany and photography.

Wonderfully presented, this biography of a pioneering woman scientist is both inspiring and distinctive in appearance. Fiona Robinson’s visuals make use of cyanotope’s blue and white, cleverly and imaginatively combining her own art with reproductions of Anna’s illustrations.

A fine example of a book that demonstrates the importance both of STEAM subjects and the role of women in both the arts and science fields.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Ellie http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Ellie2019-05-01 11:33:392021-03-20 11:39:19The Bluest of Blues

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

BfK 254 May 2022 Download BfK Issue BfK 254 May 2022
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Shortlist for the 2022 SLA Information Book Award

June 23, 2022

2022 Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Winners Announced

June 16, 2022

UK Nominations for IBBY’s List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2023

June 14, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Cloud Boy We Won an Island
Scroll to top