- Jan 30
Ulugh Beg's Quest to Map
the Stars and Seasons
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Harper Collins
pub. 9.30.2025
40 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: M. O. Yuksel
Illustrator: Zelma Firdauzia
Character: Ulugh Beg
Overview:
"Ulugh Beg’s curiosity burned as bright as the stars. He yearned to count every star in the sky, every day in a year, and to know why the seasons change. Fueled by his deep faith, Ulugh Beg’s quest for knowledge led to the creation of new schools, the world’s largest observatory and star catalog, and innovative tools to better chart the secrets of the skies. Although some doubted him, he never stopped searching for answers. And because of his determination, our understanding of the world has changed—forever.
Tantalizing taste:
"Many moons ago, in the fifteenth century, far away in the Timurid Empire, a young prince named Ulugh Beg gazed at the twinkling skies over Samarkand.
Curiosity filled his mind, and ideas soared inside him like shooting stars.
He questioned everything and wondered, How many stars are there?"
And something more: "For seventeen years, Ulugh Beg and his team carefully observed the night sky and prepared the greatest star catalog in history, called Zij-i Sultani, which lists 1,000 stars, with precise details about their positions... Ulugh Beg's star catalog is still used in modern times to date historical events, to observe the proper motion of the stars, and to study how the Earth's rotation is always changing...
Ulugh Beg was challenged by conservative religious leaders. In his time, astronomy (the study of stars) and astrology (fortune-telling) were considered the same science. Some religious leaders disagreed with is work, and political instability in his empire made things even harder for him.
After Ulugh Beg's death, his observatory was destroyed, but portions of it remain in Saarkand, Uzbekistan, as a museum."
- Jan 27
The Promise of the Packhorse Librarians
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Union Square Kids
pub. 8.12.2025
48 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Lauren H. Kerstein
Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander
Characters: Kentucky Packhorse Librarians
Overview:
"Following the Great Depression, literacy rates in the country had dwindled, and education and opportunities were harder to come by, especially in areas like rural Appalachia. But still, there was a dream: a vision of a nation in which reading was accessible to all—even those in the most remote places.
The Packhorse Library project of the 1930s and 1940s called upon Kentucky women to make that vision a reality and rise to the difficult and demanding job of delivering books on horseback. The Packhorse librarians were brave, steadfast, and resilient. For years, the women endured rough terrain, harsh conditions, and exhaustion. And with each book delivered and reading lesson taught, the librarians ushered in a new era for Kentuckians."
Tantalizing taste:
"Visit after visit,
librarians wove books and stories into
the fabric of their neighbors' lives.
And as literacy FLOURISHED,
new ideas did too.
Though they might travel for hours without seeing another ...
nature's hymns provided a constant companion.
WIND WHISTLED.
BIRDS SANG.
CREEKS BURBLED.
Hearts rose with each steadying beat.
The librarian packed up to go."
And something more: Who were the Packhorse librarians?
"By 1939, more than thirty women rode horses or mules (that they had to rent or borrow) over assigned trails to deliver books to schools and homes in the communities in which they lived. Roughly fourteen rural libraries had been established. Many women were married and raising children alone because their husbands had left to find work. It was up to the women to support themselves and their families."
What impact did the Packhorse Library Project have?
"The Packhorse Library Project helped thousand of families learn to read. This led to new skills, jobs, and hope during a dark time. In 1937, circulation had reached 60,000 books per month. Packhorse librarians visited 26,000 families and 155 public schools.
This powerful program even inspired Kentucky Representative Carl D. Perkins to request the first federal funding for public libraries. As a former one-room schoolhouse teacher, he’d received life-changing visits from Packhorse librarians.
With tenacity, courage, and compassion, Packhorse librarians changed lives one book at a time."
- Jan 11
How Ursula Marvin Mapped
Moon Rocks and Meteorites
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
A Paula Wiseman Book
(Simon & Schuster)
pub. 10.14.2025
64 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Sandra Neil Wallace
Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter
Character: Ursula Marvin
Overview:
"While attending college in the early 1940s, Ursula Marvin fell in love with geology, but when she asked her male professor about making the field her major, he tried to stop her, saying it would be a better use of her time to learn how to cook. Ursula studied geology anyway, eventually getting her master’s and PhD in the subject.
As a visionary and groundbreaking geologist, Ursula also had to be brave. She believed meteorites held the key to unlocking the origins of the solar system. To prove it, she travelled to Antarctica where she faced fierce winds, the coldest climate on Earth, and cracks in the ice that could have crushed her, but she knew the danger was worth the risk and scientific exploration wasn’t just for men. She proved her theory and that meteorites could be made up of pieces of planets or the moon.
Ursula Marvin charted new territory as a scientist and fought gender discrimination at every turn in her career. She broke barriers in science, helped create the field of planet geology, and discovered theories that are now foundational, reshaping our understanding of the universe."
Tantalizing taste:
"Wavy, black meteorites on ice fields, turquoise blue.
Specimens as small as berries on rippled gray slopes.
Foot-long meteorites older than Earth, their crusts a velvety brown like the skua birds flying above, and just as rare.
Whenever Ursula discovered a meteorite, she heard the ice hum beneath her snowmobile.
That week, the ice hummed 159 times."
And something more: Sandra Neil Wallace in the Author's Note notes: "Back then [1940s], it was nearly impossible for women to have science careers...She became the first faculty member in Harvard's geology department and the first woman president of the Meteoritical Society. She pushed for equal access and pay equity for women scientists by launching the first women's program at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory - the location of Ursula's main laboratory."
