Little People, BIG DREAMS Series: Marie Curie AND Agatha Christie, by Isabel Sánchez Vegara, illustrated by Elisa Munsó and Frau Isa, Reading Level 2

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a fantastic series of picture book biographies, from the subjects to the illustrations and design, these books make gorgeous gifts and a marvelous addition to any library. The fifth and sixth books feature Agatha Christie and Marie Curie. Every book in the series, which features women throughout history, from artists to scientists to designers and authors, begins with the subject as a girl, focusing on the source of her passion and drive. Best of all, the books in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series are written at a second grade level, perfect for readers new to non-fiction and biographies and just the right length for reading out loud.

Vegara begins Little People, BIG DREAMS: Agatha Christie with little Agatha happily listening as her mother reads to her, often coming up with a better ending to the story. Agatha grew up to work as a nurse during WWI, going on to use all that she learned about medicine - poisons to be specific - into her writing, publishing her first novel in 1919. With an economy of words, Vegara takes readers through Christie's career, her travels, her plays, telling readers that she, "wrote more than a hundred books and invented enough victims to fill a cemetery!" The book ends (as do all the books in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series) with a timeline, including photos of the subject when available. Text under the time repeats and expands on the text of the book, adding details to important events.

Little People, BIG DREAMS: Marie Curie, also written by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara with illustrations by Frau Isa, begins with little Maria observing life in the garden and vowing to become "a scientist, not a princess." Vegara makes the point that, while she won awards for her intelligence in school, Maria was not allowed to go to the university her brother attended because she was a girl. A move to Paris changed allowed her to go to university, where she excelled in spite of learning a new language. Her marriage to Pierre Curie and their scientific discoveries for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, Marie Curie becoming the first woman to receive one, are explained in a way that is understandable for young readers. Marie's further discoveries, her second Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry and her development of the use of X-rays to help injured soldiers in WWI are also covered. Vegara ends her book with a piece of advice that Curie gave to her students at the Radium Institute at the University of Paris, "in life, there is nothing to be afraid of, only many things to learn, and many ways to help those in need."

As I said at the start of this review, Little People, BIG DREAMS is a great series of books. I am definitely going to seek out the first books in the series and keep my eye out for upcoming titles.

Already available in the

Little People, BIG DREAMS series: