Interesting biography of someone I'd never heard of, who studied something I never would have thought I'd find interesting. The Lady in question is Jeanne Villepreux-Power, a Frenchwoman whose remarkable life story began with a modest birth into a family in which a tragedy required young Jeanne to find a job. Jeanne set off for Paris, where she ultimately had a successful career as a clothes designer. But a happy marriage and a move to Sicily allowed Jeanne to begin to explore the mysteries of marine life, and in particular, the argonaut octopus. In order to properly study these creatures, Jeanne created the aquarium, which I found fascinating. Full disclosure: the book disappeared off my Kindle app on my phone when it was archived by NetGalley before I'd finished it. But it was fascinating, and is a quick read. Ms. Staaf's writing style is quite informal, but that opens this book up to a wider audience than a more traditional biographical approach would have encouraged.

I greatly enjoyed “The Lady and the Octopus,” a middle grade biography of self-taught 19th century naturalist, Jeanne Villepreux-Power. This well-researched biography places the events in the historical context of the time while also describing Villepreux-Power’s successes and challenges as a female scientist. Young people will be fascinated by the descriptions of Villepreux-Power’s inventions and anecdotes of the animals she studied and lived with. Some of the scientific descriptions will be challenging for younger middle grade readers, but would be fine with the support of an adult and for older readers. I highly recommend “The Lady and the Octopus” for fans of marine biology, eminent historic women, and general nonfiction.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC for review.

Wonderful look into Jeanne Villepreux-Power's life and contributions to science. Each chapter is highly engaging and can used/read independently of the others, which greatly expands how the book can be used in the classroom. This is a must-have for any junior high or high school library or classroom.

Thank you NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group, Carolrhoda Books for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

I really wanted to love this book, but honestly I think it is too dense for the audience it is targeting (middle grade 8-12 year olds). There was way more information in here than expected. Based on the title alone, I thought this would be a great read to learn about Jeanne Villepreux-Power and her work on octopuses or agronauts. However, there is a lot of background information on the scientist herself that I feel is not needed, or misrepresented by the description and the title. The text is of a high reading level containing complex and technical vocabulary. I personally feel this would be better suited for high school and above.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lerner Publishing for the ARC of this!

This was especially fascinating both because it taught me about a female scientist that I wasn’t familiar with and for the contextualizing that the author did - explaining where inferences need to be made to complete a biography without many reliable sources, how a well-off woman would’ve lived at the time, etc. The images included were very interesting. Perfect for an older MG and up reader who is interested in science, female biographies or octopuses!

This fascinating YA nonfiction title introduced me to Jeanne Villepreux-Power, born during the French Revolution, who not only invented the aquarium but also led the way in studying live animals, not just dead specimens. Although her interests and scientific studies were wide-ranging, she is best known for her observations about argonauts, a little-known but wide-ranging type of octopus. Staaf includes many explanatory inserts about both nature and history; she does an excellent job of identifying what we actually know and what is surmised about Jeanne's life and work. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Review based on an eARC received through NetGalley.

Celebrating female scientists in this biography of science featuring Villepreux-Power and her Argonauts showcase how being a woman in science was a hard thing to be so long ago. She had an interest and a passion, she published works, but it was hard-fought and laid the foundation for observation-based scientific discovery. She built what amounts to aquariums to observe. She collected specimens. She questioned what she saw and sought to learn more. As the subtitle includes: she revolutionized marine biology.

The short chapters, illustrations and art, and brief interludes about science and discovery make it a perfect biography of science.

I'll take any excuse to add a new science book to my collection, so thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Each chapter in this book focuses on a different time in Jeanne Villepreux-Power's life. It felt like each one could be taken on its own if someone chose to skip through the text. Each chapter includes at least one little aside- the first one in the book is on the metric system- that could also be read individually. For these reasons, I think it would be a great book to use in a classroom setting. It would be easy to break down into sections for directed readings. The asides could be assigned to be a cold read in class for a period. The chapters could be shuffled around to address only her interest in science development.

The Lady and the Octopus would be a great addition to a classroom or school library.

I love the organization of this book. Kids can have short attention spans, so I like that this offers information in short sections. I also like the vivid colors and photographs. There's a diagram of an argonaut, which follows the montessori method of learning about animals.

It's also nice that it has lots of historical fact to tie in more information for the period. I think this is a great book for kids that is both fun and educational. I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy to add to my daughter's homeschool library.