The Lady and the Octopus
How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology
Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. Born in 1794 in a French village more than 100 miles from the ocean, she pursued an improbable path that brought her to the island of Sicily. There, she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how of the argonaut octopus gets its shell.
In an era when most research focused on dead specimens, Jeanne was determined to experiment on living animals. And to keep sea creatures alive for her studies, she had to invent a contraption to hold them—the aquarium. Her remarkable life story is told by author, marine biologist, and octopus enthusiast Danna Staaf.
| Format | Your Price | Add |
|---|---|---|
|
978-1-7284-1577-2
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$20.99 | |
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978-1-7284-6848-8
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$33.99 |
| Interest Level | Grade 5 - Grade 12 |
|---|---|
| Reading Level | Grade 6 |
| Genre | Social Studies |
| Category | 5 Kinds of Nonfiction, 5KN: Narrative Nonfiction, Animals, Diverse Books: Feminism, Diversity, SEL: B Self-Management, SEL: E Responsible Decision-Making, Social Emotional Learning, STEM, STEM: Life Science/Animals, STEM: Technology |
| Copyright | 2022 |
| Publisher | Lerner Publishing Group |
| Imprint | Carolrhoda Books ® |
| Language | English |
| Number of Pages | 136 |
| Publication Date | 2022-10-04 |
| Text Type | Narrative Nonfiction |
|---|---|
| BISACS | JNF007090, JNF003150, JNF007120 |
| Dewey | 578.77092 [B] |
| Dimensions | 8 x 10 |
| Lexile | 1220 |
| Features | Author/Illustrator note, Awards, Bibliography/further reading, Endnote, Glossary, Index, Maps, Primary source quotations/images, Reviewed, Starred Reviews, Timeline, and Websites |
Author: Danna Staaf
Danna Staaf is a freelance science communicator with a PhD in marine biology. Her writing has appeared in Science, KQED, Earther, and io9, and her first book, Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods (now reprinted as Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods), was named one of the best science books of 2017 by NPR. She created the science outreach program Squids4Kids and visits schools at every grade level, as well as venues from museums to libraries to tech companies. She lives in San Jose with her spouse, children, and innumerable plush octopuses.
The Lady and the Octopus: An Interview with Author Danna Staaf
Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. In the early 1800s she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how of the argonaut octopus gets its shell. Follow her story in the new nonfiction The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne… View →
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Awards
- Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
- Booklist Top 10 History for Youth
- Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices
- School Library Journal Best Book of 2022
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
“[W]ell researched and expertly explained. A seaworthy bio of a revolutionary scientist.”—Kirkus Reviews