Born Curious: 20 Girls Who Grew Up to Be Awesome Scientists

by Martha Freeman, Katy Wu (Illustrations)

“An inspiring look at women who realized curiosity plus tenacity equals success.” —Kirkus Reviews

Discover the histories of twenty incredible female scientists in this inspiring biography collection from beloved author Martha Freeman and Google Doodler Katy Wu.

Why do galaxies spin the way they do?
What’s the best kind of house for a Komodo dragon?
Can you cure malaria with medicine made from a plant?

The scientists and mathematicians in Born Curious sought answers to these and many other fascinating questions. And it’s lucky for us they did. Without their vision, insight, and hard work, the world would be a sicker, dirtier, and more dangerous place.

The twenty groundbreaking women—including Rosalind Franklin, Marie Tharp, Shirley Anne Jackson, and more—came from all kinds of backgrounds and had all kinds of life experiences. Some grew up rich. Some grew up poor. Some were always the smartest kid in class. Some struggled to do well in school. But all had one thing in common: They were born curious. Are you curious, too? Read on.

Introduction --
Ellen Swallow Richards --
Joan Beauchamp Procter --
Frances Oldham Kelsey --
Gertrude Belle Elion --
Rosalind Franklin --
Marie Tharp --
Vera Cooper Rubin --
Tu Youyou --
Sylvia Earle --
Lynn Alexander Margulis --
Patricia Era Bath --
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard --
Jocelyn Bell Burnell --
Shirley Anne Jackson --
Ingrid Daubechies --
Adriana Ocampo --
Susan Solomon --
Carol Greider --
May-Britt Moser --
Maryam Mirzakhani --
Afterword: So you want to be a scientist

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Science, Middle Grade, Picture Books, History, Historical

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2020

About the author

Martha Freeman was born in Southern California in 1956. It is not actually true that pterodactyls ruled the skies then, but her three children believe this.

Martha graduated from Glenoaks Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Junior High, and Glendale High School. Until Martha came along, Glendale High's most famous graduate was a fellow named Marion Michael Morrison. He later went into the film game and changed his name to John Wayne, which you might very well do, too, if you were a boy named Marion in unenlightened times. In 1978, Martha graduated from Stanford University with a degree in history. She remains Stanford's most illustrious graduate if not its most wealthy.
Stink Bomb Mom

Martha's First Book.

Martha worked as a newspaper reporter, copy editor, substitute teacher, college lecturer, advertising copywriter, and freelance magazine writer before she found her true calling as a writer of children's books in 1994. Her first book was "Stink Bomb Mom," now, tragically, out of print. She has since published 14 more books for children and as you read this, she is probably working on another one. Besides writing and visiting schools to talk to students, Martha teaches occasional classes at Penn State University, volunteers as an emergency medical technician, and works for a wonderful little company called Wall Street Communications. She is a very busy person.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

for STEM discussion in Children's Books group, Feb. 2025
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So rich, so much on each this could be used for a whole unit in the classroom!

Important work done by women I've mostly not ever heard of. For example, Patricia Bath gets credit for making laser surgery for cataracts work, and she's not only female, but was born back in Harlem in 1942, and is African-American! Several won Nobel prizes; others would have were this not such a sexist world.

Includes lots of rich, inspiring back matter.
Didn't read the whole thing so not taking credit, but skimmed Feb. 2025.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born Curious: 20 Girls Who Grew Up to Be Awesome Scientists is a middle grade picture book anthology of mini-biographies written by Martha Freeman and illustrated by Katy Wu. It is a collection of twenty tributes of influential women in the field of science.

For the most part, this anthology is written and constructed rather well. Listed in chronological order, these twenty mini-biographies have a written text of four to five pages long with a beautifully rendered full-page portrait. At the end of each tribute Freeman lists their major achievements, a quote, and a fascinating fact. Backmatter includes an afterward, glossary, list of sources, and an index.

Freeman had chosen twenty influential and diverse women from around the world and from different walks of life covering many scientific fields. In short, it is a wonderful collection of biographies that encourages little girls that working in scientific field is viable for them from being an astrophysicist to a zoologist and everything in-between.

All in all, Born Curious: 20 Girls Who Grew Up to Be Awesome Scientists is an inspiring look at women who realized curiosity plus tenacity equals success.

[Christiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all the diversity on the cover, I hoped for more women of color highlighted in the twenty women. Still, a great resource and collection of women!

[Analie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and inspiring! I learned about women I had never heard of, like 19th century zoologist Joan Beauchamp Proctor, who made her own surgical instruments - wow. Other women persevered through challenges like ADD, dyslexia, and poverty to accomplish amazing feats. This book does a great job at showing young people what is possible when a person pursues their dreams despite setbacks and naysayers.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent representation. Learned about scientists I was not familiar with- as well as new facts about ones I was acquainted with. Very well organized and inspirational.

[Jackie L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born Curious by Marth Freeman is a collection of biographies about 20 women who left an impact on the world because of their work in science and mathematics. The biographies follow a chronological order and cover women from the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. Each feature shares information about the scientist from their childhood throught adulthood. The biographies are all 2-3 pages long with a full illustration for each scientist. This pacing allows the read to feel quick and efficient.

I located this book on the NSTA Outstanding Scientist Trade Book website. Born Curious was one of the winners of this award in 2021. According to our course textbook, this book is considered a collective biography due to the common theme of each women featured. The structure of the book is appealing and accessible to young readers due to the bright illustrations and brief, yet concise biographies.

I was drawn to this book right from the beginning. While this is a collection of biographies, I can see the potential of using this book with students. This is a text-heavy picturebook and therefore is most appropriate for students in grades 3-5. This is a great resource to use to supplement instruction on a given scientific topic. This book can also be used as daily reading activities during Women’s History Month. Students can practice writing summaries about a specific scientist. They can also use this resource to practice identifying the topic and main idea of each biography.

[Erin Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes 20 biographies about women scientists. The book begins with an introduction explaining that each chapter discusses a different scientist. Each chapter includes an illustration of the scientist and then explains what the scientist accomplished. At the end of each chapter, there is a box with the scientist's achievements, a quote, and a fascinating fact. I like that the author included this as a summary of the chapter. The illustration of each scientist shows them working in their field. For example, Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, so the picture shows her underwater. The theme throughout the book is that these women were all curious. The author encourages children to be curious too. At the end of the book, the author gives 13 tips to be an awesome scientist. These tips include read, work with your hands, make the best of things, think for yourself, and be curious.

I read a physical copy of this book from my local library. This book has a positive review on the Kirkus Reviews website. This would be perfect to show students how important science is and to show all the contributions women have made to science. This book would be appropriate for students in grades 4-8.

[Brenda Kahn]

I was gratified to see that I was already familiar with just two of the twenty women featured in this collective biography. So kudos for not choosing the same old, same old. Each woman received a full-page portrait, followed by three pages of biography, ending with a box containing what her achievement was, a quote and a fun fact. While I found each woman's life interesting, I found it curious that each starts in the present tense during a pivotal childhood moment and then switches to the past tense. Ultimately, it became annoying. What also became annoying was how marriages and divorces were handled. In one, marriage was never mentioned but a child was. In others, there was no mention of marriage or children leading the reader to assume the subject stayed single.

The author took pains to point out the pronunciation of Maria (Mar-EYE-ah) Mitchell, who influenced two of the scientists and a nickname, Janni, but nothing else, including Chicxulub and any of the words in the 4-page glossary. Back matter included lists of websites about each of the subects.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you always asking why? So were the 20 women profiled in this book. They just never stopped asking questions even after they grew up. Born Curious provides a short biography on 20 women who were influential in the various scientific fields or mathematicians. Many of the women profiled have won the highest honor in their respective fields, either the Noble Prize or the Fields Medal. Each biography is about 3 pages long includes a photo of the woman being profiled and ends with a summary of her achievements, a quote, and a fascanating fact about her. The illustrations are colorful, intruiging and created by adobe photoshop. Every girl can see herself represented in the pages as scientist from around the world are profiled from Adrianna Ocampa to Tu Youyou. Theis is a sources section if a reader wants to learn more about a particular scienctist, a glossary and index for support. The acknowledgements contain a list of essentials to help girls grow up to be scientist and mathmaticians.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this perfect book for curious girls (and curious boys! and curious adults!), Martha Freeman shares twenty biographical sketches of a diverse array of female scientists, each one driven by a passionate desire to know more about the marvels of the universe. Freeman is a spell-binding storyteller who captivates readers with engaging anecdotes about the childhood experiences that shaped each of her subjects and also manages to explain their achievements in a clear and accessible way. I have to confess I had not heard of a single one of these twenty women before purchasing this book. I am so grateful to have met them here.

[Penny lurkykitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born Curious is a collection of 20 short biographies of female scientists who have contributed significantly to various scientific fields. By reading this book, not only did I learn about these phenomenal women, but also some fascinating science. Many of these women were told they weren’t smart enough, couldn’t do it, or had some other barrier put in their way (racism, sexism, intellectual theft), but they adapted, persisted and lived their dream. The end holds a collection of good advice for those who want to become scientists and a glossary. An interesting book for kids and adults alike.

[Melissa Nikohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born Curious shares the stories of 20 extraordinary scientists! ⁣
⁣
At the end of each biography, the author lists their achievement, a quote, and a fascinating fact. If I still had my 5th graders, I would use this to model how to write information about significant people. We know sometimes their facts are super basic, these sure aren’t! ⁣
⁣
The short but sweet bios make you want to do more research on these ladies. ⁣

[James Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about 20 women scientists. Each one gets about 5 pages of their early background and highlights their achievements. Accompanying each biography is a warm and touching illustration. The book is chock full of information. There is also a glossary of terms and source material at the back of the book, making this like a mini encyclopedia. This would be great as a home resource for kids projects or research papers.

[Lupe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a book for anyone who wants to read about female scientists! I learned about several I didn't know before. There are 20 scientists featured and each one received about three pages of a mini-biography, a beautifully illustrated portrait, and facts. It is a bit too advanced for most of my elementary students but I hope it appeals to anyone who is thinking about a STEAM job or just needs to be inspired.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book is a great one for encouraging girls to explore careers that explore areas of study in which already holds interest and curiosity. By the telling the story of woman who have excelled in areas of science and math, even in the face of daunting obstacles, this book provides definite inspiration for girls today to pursue dreams, push past obstacles, and find work they find fulfilling, fun, and meaningful.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born Curious is an inspiring story about twenty female scientist who come from many different backgrounds and answered questions to make our world a better place. It doesn't matter how you grew up, if you are curious you can achieve your goal. I found this book on NSTA.org. I would recommend this book for middle school students. I think students could talk about something they would be interested in and are curious about. Then students can create a project out of it.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While geared to the STEM-curious 9 to 12 year-old reader, this +60 year-old reader found much to love and learn from this colorful well researched collection of mini biographies. Nearly all of these scientists and mathematicians were unknown to me. I found their discoveries fascinating. The author has done a great job humanizing their personalities drawing from their childhood experiences.

[Sandra]

All of the women covered are amazing and I was pleased that there wasn't a huge overlap with other collections. I was also pretty impressed with the range of sciences covered.

It could have been a little less white and American/Western European-centric. I'm glad there was a glossary and bibliography, but I wish there'd been a pronunciation guide for some of the terms.

[Annella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to fulfill the biography requirement for my 40-book-challenge. This book explores the lives of 20 young girls who grew up to be awesome scientists. It's a great read for kids with engaging pictures and language. It could be very inspiring for young girls who are excited about STEM. Overall, it was a great read.

[Marissa Zoccali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography captures the essence of 20 young girls who knew up to be scientists. Each of the 20 women are given quiet a profile for the reader to enjoy. We get information such as childhood influences, their personal accomplishments, a fact about themselves, along with a picture of them. We are given the chance to learn about so many new women in this story.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 3rd-5th graders are going to love this book! Each bio is a mini, with a fun fact ending. Great resource for researching a few of these remarkable women. Also works as a read aloud, spotlighting different women each week.

[Georgina Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book exploring the lives of scientific women in a wide range of fields like chemistry, physics, biology, astrology, pharmacology, genetics, and zoology.

The illustrations are colorful and vivid, and paint an excellent portrait of each scientist.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! about 4 pages plus picture, and summary box, for each woman. Glossary in back. Nice mix of women, some I know, but most I don't, or not well.

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite scientists in this book are Maryam Mirzakhabi and Jocelyn Bell Burnell!

[Jan White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories for girls who are interested in science!

[Kaia Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book teaches readers they can be whoever they want to be because it follows ten woman who grew up to be and do amazing things. I definitely recommend this as a book to encourage young girls.

[Savannah Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a very empowering book and I would love for my future students to read it.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of these scientists were new to me. My kids loved the various science fields. The pictures are great. The achievements, quotes and fascinating facts are a plus.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book with blurbs about fascinating women scientists and my daughter enjoyed reading this with me.

[Alexis Thomas]

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