I, Galileo

Alfred A. Knopf, Summer 2012

Written & Illustrated by Bonnie Christensen

  • Acclaimed author-illustrator Bonnie Christensen adopts the voice of Galileo and lets him tell his own tale in this outstanding picture book biography. The first person narration gives this book a friendly, personal feel that makes Galileo's remarkable achievements and ideas completely accessible to young readers. And Christensen's artwork glows with the light of the stars he studied.

    Galileo's contributions were so numerous—the telescope! the microscope!—and his ideas so world-changing—the sun-centric solar system!—that Albert Einstein called him "the father of modern science." But in his own time he was branded a heretic and imprisoned in his home. He was a man who insisted on his right to pursue the truth, no matter what the cost—making his life as interesting and instructive as his ideas.

  • Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2012:

    “The explanatory style, accessible language, and diagrams keep science concepts understandable.”

    The New York Times, June 20, 2012:

    "Bonnie Christensen dials back several centuries in “I, Galileo,” demonstrating once again how a well-conceived and executed picture book can deliver a serious story . . . in a beautiful, enriching way. . . . [A] fully realized, humanized portrait."

    Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2012:

    "An accessible, inviting and attractive introduction to Galileo."

    NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Book 2012

    Smithsonian Art and Space Museum, Favorite Children's Book of 2012

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Plant a Little Seed (2012)