bet27's review against another edition
4.0
Born in 1647, at a time when people thought anyone interested in bugs was evil and supposedly women could only paint with watercolors not oil (I can't find any sources for this info, so it may not be true), Maria studied and painted bugs with a scientist's eye. She eventually even travelled to Suriname (from Germany) to study & even discover more bugs and creatures. I'd never heard of her before and now I want to look at all her bug art.
alessandra_johnson's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
The Bug Girl: Maria Merian's Scientific Vision by Sarah Gleen Marsh was an excellent way to desribe the character of Maria Merian and hoe she was a key character to the understanding of bugs. The author did an incredible job of informing the audience about why Maria couldn't share her discoveries as well as why insects hadn't been studied yet. Overall the book covered the key factors of her life and how the discoveries and studies and paintings she created influenced the information we know about insects and metamorphosis. It was highly informational and the illustrations done by Filippo Vanzo painted the entire story beautifully.
crowyhead's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this picture book biography so much, and so did my daughter! The only reason I've given it four stars instead of five has to do with the artwork. Firstly, some of the illustrations appear to show Monarch butterflies, which to my understanding would not be accurate -- these butterflies are native to the Americas and would not have been present in 16th century Germany. Along with that, it was disappointing to me that even though the book was about an artist, the only examples of her actual work were on the endpapers of the book.
teganbeese's review against another edition
5.0
I had no idea who Maria Merian was before this book! I also didn't know people associated bugs with witchcraft. Very interesting book about who people consider one of the first entomologists!
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