Perkin's Perfect Purple

How a Boy Created Color with Chemistry

Disney Hyperion

(pub. 10.6.2020) 

56 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Tami Lewis Brown

       and Debbie Loren Dunn
       and illustrator: Francesca Sanna

C haracter: William Henry Perkin

O verview:

 

"Many years ago, the color purple was available only to a privileged few. Making purple was tricky. The dye was concocted from a certain snail, and later, from plants, bugs, and rocks. Then it had to be soaked in minerals and . . . urine! The process was very complicated and expensive (not to mention smelly!).

Until 1856, when a boy named William Henry Perkin invented a new way. While testing a hypothesis about a cure for malaria, he found that his experiment resulted in something else -- something vivid and rare for the times: synthetic PURPLE. Perkin, a pioneer of the modern scientific method, made numerous advances possible, including canned food and chemotherapy. But it was his creation of purple that started it all."

T antalizing taste:    

"This is how it happened.

William's father was a successful carpenter.

His brother, a proud architect.

Young William dreamed of being an artist, a musician, a photographer, or a botanist ...

William was interested in everything!

When he was twelve, a friend showed him experiments with crystals, and he knew this was far more exciting than any other subject.

He began to collect glassware and equipment, and set up a lab in his house, in Shadwell, East London.

There he mixed and measured, experimented and examined."

And something more:  The Authors' Note explains "the color of our world is not the only thing William changed. The dyes that followed from Perkin's discovery allowed medical researchers to stain invisible bacteria and microbes, leading to cures for tuberculosis, cholera, and even anthrax. Methods he and others developed for changing the molecular structure of organic compounds, a process known as 'Perkin's Synthesis,' yielded synthetic smells and tastes that never existed before. Our world looks, smells, tastes, and feels different because of William Perkin."

Malala's Magic Pencil

Little Brown Books

for Young Readers

(pub.10.17.2017)

48 pages 

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Malala Yousafzai

      and illustrator: Kerascoet

          (pseudonym of husband-and-wife team,

            Sebastien Cosset and Marie Pommepuy)

C haracter: Malala Yousafzai

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "When Malala was a child in Pakistan, she wished for a magic pencil. She would use it to ... "draw a lock on her door to keep her brothers out ... stop time so she could sleep an extra hour every morning. ... erase the smell of the trash dump near her home." 

     But as Malala grew, her world changed and so did her wishes. Her right to attend school was threatened - just because she's a girl.  Instead of a magic pencil, Malala now picked up a real one. She wrote alone in her room about the challenges she faced, but people from all over read her words.

     And her wishes started to come true."
  

T antalizing taste:        

  

    "My father had always said, 'Malala will live free as a bird.'

     Now I wondered how free I'd truly be.

     That night I thought about families who didn't have enough food. And the girl who couldn't go to school. And even about how when I was older, I would be expected to cook and clean for my brothers, because where I came from, many girls weren't allowed to become what they dreamed of."

and something more: A new year and new beginnings -- so I wanted to begin with a story of hope. I was moved by the courageous story of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of seventeen: "Malala first came to public attention by writing for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban using the pen name Gul Makai. The Taliban had forbidden girls in her region from going to school Soon, she began to speak publicly about girls' education in her community.  In October 2012, Malala was targeted by the Taliban and attacked as she was returning home from school She miraculously survived.

     Malala and her family now live in Birmingham, England, and she travels the world speaking about the importance of education for all."