Come See the Earth Turn

The Story of Leon Foucault
 
This post is part of Nonfiction Monday
hosted today by L.L. Owens
 

Tricycle Press (pub. 9.14.10)
 32 pages  
 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: LORI MORTENSEN

              and Illustrator: RAUL ALLEN

C haracter: Leon Foucault, 

    a French scientist in the 1800s

O verview from book flap:

     "A sickly child, a poor student, and a medical school dropout, Leon Foucault seemed an unlikely candidate for greatness.  But his ingenious experiment - simple, beautiful, and stunningly original - changed how we see the world.

     Scientists knew that the earth turned on its axis.  But how could they prove it?  Countless experiments had been tried ... and had failed.  Then... Leon Foucault ... offered the proof everyone had been looking for.

     Discover the improbably story of the man behind the famous Foucault's Pendulum."

T antalizing taste: 
      "Even though Leon's slowpoke ways got him in trouble at school, working slowly and precisely at home allowed him to make things exactly the way he wanted them to be.

     Soon, family and friends marveled over the quiet boy's clever inventions and magnificent contraptions."

   

and something more:   In our fast-paced era, the terrific picture book biography, Come See the Earth Turn, honors a person, Leon Foucault, who took his time and, consequently, proved that the earth turned. And, for a child who also feels he or she is "a tortoise among jackrabbits" at school, Leon Foucault's success will be cheered. As a scientist, he succeeded where others with degrees in physics and mathematics had failed.
     I enjoyed reading that the author, Lori Mortensen, as a girl, was surrounded by experiments conducted by her father, a research scientist. I too have chemist parents who were often devising solutions and inventions around our house.  Hurrah for innovators!