The End

I recently published my first edited book,  Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology ,  with  Small Harbor Publishing . It's an anthology of writing from  Literary Mama  staff over the past 20 years. It's a beautiful collection and I am proud of the writers and proud to share the book.  It seems a fitting moment, as I pondered sharing about the book here on the blog, to reflect on my life as a blogger, and acknowledge that it is time to officially end this blog.   I started blogging in about 2007, when my baby was learning to toddle, when I was learning how to be a mother and stepmother, when I was just starting to see my way as a writer. I needed it back then. I craved it. I had a variety of blog iterations--family, art, creativity, writing things I delved into. There's a freedom in blogging, a casualness, an easy familiarity that's lacking (for me anyway) in other kinds of writing. I loved blogging and the words came pouring out.  Ove...
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Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas


Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe, illustrated by Jos. A. Smith is a great example of a science biography. It tells about the life Gregor Mendel, the first geneticist. Mendel had a thirst for knowledge, and left the life prescribed for him by his father, to go to school. After becoming a friar, which allowed him time and space to work on science experiments, he spent years and years studying plant heredity. He wanted to know how plants, and humans, passed their traits to their offspring. During his time working on this science experiment, he grew close to 28,000 pea plants. Talk about dedication. 

 When I read books like this, I notice that great minds, and the books that shine a light on them, are people who look at the world in a new way. Mendel certainly did. He was curious, and his curiosity led him to follow his questions and test life to find the answers. The idea of genetics, a completely unknown science in Mendel's time (the mid 1800's) was an utterly new way to look at the world. No one else was concerned with the details of heredity, hence the reason that Mendel's findings were completely disregarded by the scientists of the day. 

 Innovators, the scientists who see things in a new way, the activists who challenge the societal norms, the artists who throw creativity in society's face, these are the people who are often scrutinized unfairly, discounted, or even villainized, but they are the ones who are moving humanity forward. Gregor Mendel said after his scientific research paper was ignored, "my time will come." 

 Indeed, Mendel's time came, and his work continues to be praised. I love that Bardoe wrote this book, her first picture book at that, to shine further light on Mendel's work. But the result is that it also allows children to see that looking at the world with new eyes can be a powerful thing. Because as we all know, children are the true innovators who will undoubtedly move our world forward. 
STEM Friday It's STEM Friday (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)!

Comments

Sue Heavenrich said…
this looks like a neat book. Thanks for sharing it!
November 22, 2013 at 5:34 PM
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