What do you think?
Rate this book
Gregor Mendel: Genetics Pioneer
Discusses the life and work of Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk who studied heredity in plants and is considered the father of genetics.
111 pages, Library Binding
First published March 1, 2004
About the author
Della A. Yannuzzi
9 books1 followerDella Yannuzzi's dreams for children are a lot like her own life--don't get discouraged, you can achieve whatever you want. Della's optimistic, never-give-up personality has brought her far in her writing career. In talking with her, right away one can see the twinkle in her eye that spells love for what she does--write every day, set goals, research the markets and send out proposals over and over again. "Eventually, if you really love it and you persevere, you will publish," is her advice to anyone who dreams of a career as a writer.
Della began writing for the adult market, trying out different genres and submitting stories and articles to local publications and mainstream magazine markets. At the same time, she finished her degree and began teaching in early childhood education. After selling many stories and articles a nice break came, as she describes it--her first publication in Highlights for Children. The article, "A Visit to Old Quebec," in 1975, was followed by a feature in Highlights on Native American Susette La Flesch, which Della then turned into a book. While that book didn't sell, she persisted, selling stories to Cobblestone, Young World, New Moon and other magazines. Writing for children had now become her greatest love, especially non-fiction and biographies.
When asked how she decided to pursue biographies, Della points out that most of her work began with articles and stories. In 1990, her story on Native American Olympic runner Billy Mills was published in Highlights for Children and received the Highlights Sports Feature of the Year award. Della proceeded to turn the Billy Mills story into a book and this time, a rejection slip from the publisher was accompanied by a winning idea--write the biography of Native American Wilma Mankiller. Della took up the challenge and published her first biography, Wilma Mankiller-Leader of the Cherokee Nation.
Biographies intrigue her, as she enjoys studying people's lives to understand how they accomplish what they have done, especially under adverse conditions. She sometimes relates their lives to her own--by looking at how they reached their goals and comparing her own progress. "They are role models for me," she says. Della believes strongly that if the people she writes about affect her in that way, children should feel the same challenge from reading her biographies. "I want children to pick up my books and get the message that it's possible to overcome obstacles, to keep trying."
To start a biography, she looks first for people who have overcome great odds to succeed, generally selecting from publishers' suggested lists. She does extensive research to be sure there is enough information available, by searching library collections, the Internet and pursuing interviews. With the personal decision made, she writes an outline, drafts a first chapter and sends these off for consideration.
Della is a "multi-tasker," able to keep many things going at once. She describes her work as a balanced day, mixing up her writing with research, market analysis, and exploring new ideas. She has multiple book or story projects going at once, and when a contract comes through, settles into that single project to meet deadlines.
Della began writing for the adult market, trying out different genres and submitting stories and articles to local publications and mainstream magazine markets. At the same time, she finished her degree and began teaching in early childhood education. After selling many stories and articles a nice break came, as she describes it--her first publication in Highlights for Children. The article, "A Visit to Old Quebec," in 1975, was followed by a feature in Highlights on Native American Susette La Flesch, which Della then turned into a book. While that book didn't sell, she persisted, selling stories to Cobblestone, Young World, New Moon and other magazines. Writing for children had now become her greatest love, especially non-fiction and biographies.
When asked how she decided to pursue biographies, Della points out that most of her work began with articles and stories. In 1990, her story on Native American Olympic runner Billy Mills was published in Highlights for Children and received the Highlights Sports Feature of the Year award. Della proceeded to turn the Billy Mills story into a book and this time, a rejection slip from the publisher was accompanied by a winning idea--write the biography of Native American Wilma Mankiller. Della took up the challenge and published her first biography, Wilma Mankiller-Leader of the Cherokee Nation.
Biographies intrigue her, as she enjoys studying people's lives to understand how they accomplish what they have done, especially under adverse conditions. She sometimes relates their lives to her own--by looking at how they reached their goals and comparing her own progress. "They are role models for me," she says. Della believes strongly that if the people she writes about affect her in that way, children should feel the same challenge from reading her biographies. "I want children to pick up my books and get the message that it's possible to overcome obstacles, to keep trying."
To start a biography, she looks first for people who have overcome great odds to succeed, generally selecting from publishers' suggested lists. She does extensive research to be sure there is enough information available, by searching library collections, the Internet and pursuing interviews. With the personal decision made, she writes an outline, drafts a first chapter and sends these off for consideration.
Della is a "multi-tasker," able to keep many things going at once. She describes her work as a balanced day, mixing up her writing with research, market analysis, and exploring new ideas. She has multiple book or story projects going at once, and when a contract comes through, settles into that single project to meet deadlines.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 13, 2012
Do you like science books? Then you should read Gregor Mendel:Genetics Pioneer. This is is a book about Gregor Mendel and how he wondered about genetics. My favorite part of the book was when Gregor first tried to mix genes of animals. This book is a nonfiction chapter book. I liked this book because I like science/biography books. If people like science/biography books they would love this book.
September 26, 2026
A surprisingly good read. In addition to the info about his life and research you get sidebars with info about his influences and who he influenced and those who rediscovered and carried on his work. A lot of good info putting into context his importance to science.
January 29, 2016
The Gregor Mendel biography is a great and educational biography. Mendel lived in a poor family, he was born in 1822. He started working as a young boy and went to school but wanted a better opportunity. He went to become a teacher, and tried to get a diploma, but did not achieve his goal to having an official job. He later went to university in Vienna and started studying on peas and there passed on traits. He figured out how traits passed down from generations and generations by experimenting on them. He, later on, presented his findings to other people, but it was not recognized yet. Once Mendel died in 1884, other scientists doing research on his work and realized that he was somewhat correct in his reasoning. Scientists kept on going deeper into his findings and making more sense out of it, but Mendel was the first to get the idea to start this.
The Gregor Mendel book is a biography, he became famous for one main reason, and Mendel also changed people's lives for many reasons. This book is a biography because it is not Mendel himself who wrote this, it is Lynn Van Gorp, who wrote it for people to know about him. Gregor's reason to be famous, is he found out about genetics using peas and he found what different traits could be passed on. Mendel changed people's lives because he was the first to find out about this, someone else could've done it but he was thought out of the box which proved something to people. So he is a very important person in our history, he made something that some people did not think of doing.
There were some good chapters in this book, but also, unpleasing parts in this biography and also this book should be recommended to other people. The chapter in this book that I liked best was when the book was talking about when he discovered genes and traits. The part I liked least was when the people, were not pleased with his findings and did not understand them. I would recommend this book to middle and lower schoolers who want to learn about Gregor Mendel and what his life was and what he did. I would also recommend this biography to people who want to learn about who discovered, genes. In conclusion, this was a great book which had some defaults but still great, learning about genes, traits and genetics.
The Gregor Mendel book is a biography, he became famous for one main reason, and Mendel also changed people's lives for many reasons. This book is a biography because it is not Mendel himself who wrote this, it is Lynn Van Gorp, who wrote it for people to know about him. Gregor's reason to be famous, is he found out about genetics using peas and he found what different traits could be passed on. Mendel changed people's lives because he was the first to find out about this, someone else could've done it but he was thought out of the box which proved something to people. So he is a very important person in our history, he made something that some people did not think of doing.
There were some good chapters in this book, but also, unpleasing parts in this biography and also this book should be recommended to other people. The chapter in this book that I liked best was when the book was talking about when he discovered genes and traits. The part I liked least was when the people, were not pleased with his findings and did not understand them. I would recommend this book to middle and lower schoolers who want to learn about Gregor Mendel and what his life was and what he did. I would also recommend this biography to people who want to learn about who discovered, genes. In conclusion, this was a great book which had some defaults but still great, learning about genes, traits and genetics.
January 24, 2018
Good book with lots of information
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews