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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: Thomas Jefferson's Battle for Science
Author: Beth Anderson
Illustrator: Jeremy Holmes
Publisher: Astra Books
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 3-8 Genre/Type of Book: Biography
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: N/A Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book:
Nominated for the CYBILS award for Elementary and Middle Grade nonfiction
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
The story of Thomas Jefferson's love of the natural world and science in a fun and detailed picture book.
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Review:
Thomas Jefferson measured the world around him; animals, plants, crops, weather, even himself. He was fascinated by the world of science, and the minute details of the natural world. As he read Count Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon's encyclopedia, marveling at the illustrations, he became enraged by Buffon's description of America. Buffon wrote that America was cold and swampy, lacking big creatures and being fare worse than the Old World's nature. Thomas wondered where Buffon had gotten his information, for his measurements told a different and more grand story of America. While serving in Congress and governor of Virginia, Thomas found time to investigate Buffon's claims. Thomas found that Buffon had never been to America, using traveler's notes to write his encyclopedia. Thomas decided to create a list of four-legged animals from Europe and America, and collect the weights of all animals with the help of scientists around the country. At the time of America gaining it's independence, Thomas published his own book describing factually accurate data about nature in America and disproving Buffon. Thomas was then assigned to travel to France as trade minister, so he packed up his book and a panther pelt to travel to the Old World and convince Buffon of his errors. Thomas didn't hear from Buffon after sending his book and panther pelt for several years, but then was invited to dine with him. Dinner included heated exchanges about the scientific process and evidence, but Buffon was not swayed of his ideas. Thomas worked to wrangle a large moose, and sent it off to Buffon -who finally promised to revise his book. He died without being able to publish this revision, but Thomas' book had made it into the public's hands, and new truth's allowed America to be seen as an important but measurably different land.
This book was an incredibly detailed and entertaining tale of Thomas Jefferson's journey to provide accurate science on nature in America, and the scientific process. I love how the author connected Thomas' journey with the scientific inquiry process, as it is something that is incredibly important and useful in today's STEM driven world. This book is a wonderful read for upper elementary students, and it is has incredibly detailed illustrations that are rife with things for students to wonder at and explore. The back of the book also includes a timeline of Thomas Jefferson's life and accomplishments, as well as sources for all information. I think that this book could be used in a variety of ways, both in being picked up as a fun individual read, but in a STEM focused lesson on the inquiry/scientific process, animals/wildlife, history, and more. I would love to try to use this one in a lesson when discussing the parts of inquiry and making this a source to be read and used.
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