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This teaching guide for Newberry Award-winner Joyce Sidman's biography of 17th century artist and naturalist Maria Merian includes Common Core-aligned pre- and post-reading activities, 12 challenging discussion questions, and 4 individual or group activities that reinforce the ELA and science concepts covered in the book.
Excerpted from
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies
Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor–winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects.