Remembering Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin & the Discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA

by Tanya Lee Stone, Gretchen Ellen Powers (Illustrator)

Overview

A CBC-NSTA Editors' Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2025•  An inspiring picture book biography about Rosalind Franklin, the groundbreaking chemist who helped discover the structure of DNA, by the award-winning, bestselling author of Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?

★ "[A] compelling introduction to an extraordinary scientist." —Booklist, starred review

Rosalind Franklin was a Jewish scientist with a remarkable talent as a chemist. Although there were few women working in this field in the 1950s, Franklin, using crystallography, captured an image that held the secret to unlocking the structure of DNA: the double helix. Her Photo 51 was used by her male colleagues without her knowledge, and they went on to win the Nobel Prize, while Franklin never found out how instrumental her work was to the discovery of the double helix. This incredible story uncovers the life and work of an extraordinary scientist, rightfully celebrating her landmark contributions to history.

★ "Poignant … Enlightening …. students with an appreciation for learning about lesser-known historical figures and an interest in science will find inspiration in Franklin’s resilience. Remember Rosalind? She’s unforgettable." —School Library Journal, starred review

★ "As she weaves science and history, Tanya Lee Stone unravels dual mysteries centering on the double helix: how the 'secret of life…makes you—YOU' and how a 'twist of fate' triggered Rosalind Franklin’s posthumous recognition." —Horn Book, starred review

"[An] inspiring picture book biography introducing Rosalind Franklin's groundbreaking life to young readers." —A Mighty Girl

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316351249
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/20/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	240,210
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Tanya Lee Stone has loved writing about women pushing boundaries in books such as Elizabeth Leads the Way, Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?, The House That Jane Built, Who Says Women Can’t Be Computer Programmers?, and Pass Go and Collect $200. Her work has received numerous accolades, including a Robert F. Sibert Medal, an NAACP Image Award, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honors, a Bank Street College Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor, and a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. She lives in Burlington, Vermont. Stone has a PhD in creative writing and runs the writing program at Champlain College. She invites you to visit her online at tanyastone.com.

Gretchen Ellen Powers has illustrated The Boxcar Children’s 75th anniversary edition as well as Summer’s Call (about her beloved Mitten State). History has always held a special place in her heart, so she loved illustrating Rosalind’s story and shining a light on a marvelous woman whose contributions have too long been cast in the shadows. She lives with her family in a farmhouse among the tall trees and the music of the lake of southwest Michigan. She invites you to visit her online at gretchenellenpowers.com.

Editorial Reviews

* "This poignant picture book unveils the life of the gifted molecular biologist, Rosalind Franklin, born in London, to a large and supportive Jewish family, renowned for capturing the X-ray diffraction photograph that illuminated the double helix structure of DNA … students with an appreciation for learning about lesser-known historical figures and an interest in science will find inspiration in Franklin’s resilience. Remember Rosalind? She’s unforgettable."
 —School Library Journal, starred review

* "As she weaves science and history, Stone unravels dual mysteries centering on the double helix: how the 'secret of life…makes you—YOU' and how a 'twist of fate' triggered Franklin’s posthumous recognition. Realistically rendered characters and period details set the story in its mid-twentieth-century milieu, while experimental techniques offer evocative visual commentary…. Powers’s accompanying fairy tale–esque castle, adorned with scientific instruments, foreshadows a time in which readers are empowered to interrogate the historical record and reclaim the stories of little-heralded figures."
 —The Horn Book, starred review

"Readers will come away with a clear understanding of Franklin’s contributions, as well as her distinctive scientific skills and background…. A warmly appreciative tribute to a renowned scientist."

—Kirkus Reviews

"A beautifully illustrated picture book biography exploring science history and feminism."—Book Riot

"This incredible story uncovers the life and work of an extraordinary scientist, rightfully celebrating her landmark contributions to history. The award-winning, bestselling author of Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors has created an inspiring picture book biography introducing Rosalind Franklin's groundbreaking life to young readers."

—A Mighty Girl

From the Publisher

★ 01/12/2024

Gr 3–6—This poignant picture book unveils the life of the gifted molecular biologist, Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), born in London, to a large and supportive Jewish family, renowned for capturing the X-ray diffraction photograph that illuminated the double helix structure of DNA. The author skillfully weaves a narrative of Franklin's independent spirit, love of nature, and unwavering intellectual pursuit. However, the tale opens on and returns to a somber tone when it covers how James D. Watson and Francis Crick, with Maurice Wilkins, Franklin's male colleagues, exploited her groundbreaking discovery without her knowledge, ultimately leading to their co-winning of the Nobel Prize. In the soft watercolor-like scenes, Franklin looks like a grown Fern from Garth Williams's illustrations of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web; these create a nostalgic backdrop for Franklin's journey. An enlightening author's note adds depth to the narrative, recounting Stone's fortuitous encounter with Crick. Crick regretfully acknowledged Franklin's brilliance, shedding light on the historical injustice she faced. Stone also notes the "Matilda Effect," the sadly common occurrence of a woman's accomplishment discounted or attributed to a male counterpart. The back matter includes quotes and sources. VERDICT While the book's technical vocabulary and complex scientific concepts may pose a minimal challenge for younger readers, older students with an appreciation for learning about lesser-known historical figures and an interest in science will find inspiration in Franklin's resilience. Remember Rosalind? She's unforgettable.—Lynne Stover

School Library Journal

2023-11-04
A profile of the underrecognized DNA researcher whose work sparked Crick and Watson’s breakthrough.

“This true story doesn’t really have a happy ending,” Stone warns—after dedicating the book to “anyone who did something awesome and didn’t feel the love.” In recent years, Rosalind Franklin’s role in revealing DNA’s helical structure has come to be readily acknowledged…but it wasn’t at the time. Along with noting the fishy way her famous “Photo 51” came into Crick and Watson’s possession, the author offers several condescending quotes from Watson’s 1968 memoir along the lines of “she was not unattractive” and “there was no denying she had a good brain.” Ouch. Counterintuitively, considering the infuriating injustice here, Powers echoes the narrative’s informal, almost detached tone with illustrations more restrained than angry; her subject bears delicate features and a distant, abstracted gaze, and the artist relies on misty, pale hues and softly rounded forms. Whatever their reaction to what the author pegs in her afterword as an archetypal case study in the Matilda effect (men taking credit for women’s work), readers will come away with a clear understanding of Franklin’s contributions, as well as her distinctive scientific skills and background.

A warmly appreciative tribute to a renowned scientist. (citations for quotes used in book, source list, photos) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews