By Rosalyn Eves
Alfred A Knopf, 2021. 371 pages. Young Adult Fiction
Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Bertelsen dreams of becoming an astronomer, but those dreams feel as far away as the stars she so deeply adores. When she unexpectedly finds herself in Colorado, she's tempted by the total eclipse of the sun that's about to happen--and maybe even meeting up with the female scientists she's long admired. Elizabeth must learn to navigate this new world of possibility: with her familial duties and faith tugging at her heartstrings, a new romance on the horizon, and the study of the night sky calling to her, she can't possibly have it all ... can she?
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a richly detailed story about Elizabeth’s struggles to follow dreams that were rarely realized by women like her in 1878. She has been raised with very set views of what a woman’s roles are, and her desire to study astronomy challenges those preconceptions head-on. Can she pursue the sciences while also being true to her faith? Does she have to give up being a wife and mother like so many other female scientists? Elizabeth’s story will inspire and serve as a reminder to follow your dreams.
If you liked Beyond the Mapped Stars, you might also like:
By Stacey Lee
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015. 374 pages. Young Adult Fiction
In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from Missouri.
By Kimberley Burton Heuston
Front Street, 2002. 207 pages. Young Adult Fiction
While searching for her true self and for the way to meet the needs of her personal sense of spirituality, an orphaned teenaged girl joins a Shaker community in mid-nineteenth century New England and learns about a new religion called Mormonism.
ACS
No comments:
Post a Comment