Atkins - Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Text copyright 2020 by Jeannine Atkins Illustrations copyright 2020 by Victoria Assanelli All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. A THENEUM B OOKS FOR Y OUNG R EADERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Atheneum logo is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or . The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Book design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover and Irene Metaxatos The illustrations for this book were rendered in pencil, then worked digitally. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Atkins, Jeannine, 1953 author. Title: Grasping mysteries : girls who loved math / Jeannine Atkins.

Description: First edition. | New York City : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2020] | Audience: Ages 10 Up. | Audience: Grades 46. | Summary: A biographical novel in verse of seven girls from different time periods who used math to explore the mysteries of the universe and grew up to do innovative work that changed history. Identifiers: LCCN 2019037196 | ISBN 9781534460683 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534460706 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 17501848Childhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | Ayrton, Hertha, 18541923Childhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | Tharp, MarieChildhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | Johnson, Katherine G.Childhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | Paisano, Edna L.Childhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | Rubin, Vera C., 19282016Childhood and youthJuvenile fiction. | CYAC: Novels in verse. | Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 17501848Childhood and youthFiction. | Nightingale, Florence, 18201910Childhood and youthFiction. | Ayrton, Hertha, 18541923Childhood and youthFiction. | Tharp, MarieChildhood and youthFiction. | Johnson, Katherine G., 19182020Childhood and youthFiction. | Paisano, Edna L., 19482014Childhood and youthFiction. | Rubin, Vera C., 19282016Childhood and youthFiction. | MathematiciansFiction. | ScientistsFiction. | Sex roleFiction. | Sex roleFiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.5.A85 Gr 2020 | DDC [Fic]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037196 TO PETER LAIRD, AGAIN AND ALWAYS

CAROLINE HERSCHEL (17501848) HANOVER, GERMANY, 1760 Fever blurs night and day, sense and nonsense. Caroline cant tell the night watchmans call from the chime of the postmans handbell. She cant see far past the fog under her eyelids. She feels hot, but craves more covers, struggles to sip from a cup held to her mouth. Water feels as coarse to swallow as sand. One night she sees straight again and wobbles to the window.

Star shine casts hope, reminds her that smallpox didnt kill her when she was small. Neither will typhus now. She raises her arms as if she might touch the faraway.

When Caroline is well enough to fetch butter and eggs at the marketplace, Mama hands her a basket, then ties a scarf over her face. Cover your smallpox scars so no one stares. The veil makes Caroline feel small, the way she does when Mama says, Dont be vain. Mama also warns, Thou shall not covet, which means: Dont want too much. She says Caroline has no need for music, since a girl cant join a military band like her father and older brothers.

But when Caroline bends over washtubs, she sings. Papa, whos become too ill to march, slips into the scullery with a violin. He shows her how to tilt her chin and wrist so the bows particular angles pull music from just four strings.

Mama, who never learned to read and write, says that with Caroline now twelve, its time to stop school. If your father hadnt spoiledyour brothers with so much education,they might have kept closer to home.You can be a help in the house and be thankfulyou dont have to find work outside as a maid.Were poor and youre plain, so you should expect little of life. The night sky is brighter than the fire in the hearth where Caroline stirs mutton broth and roasts apples. She smells medicine on her fathers breath as they step out to stand on cobblestones.

He tugs off the cloth that hides her pockmarks, though it never covers her eyes. He shows her how to hold up her hand and spread her fingers to measure the spaces between stars. Theres more above than the moon and stars, Papa says as a veil of shine disappears in the dark. The kitchen door opens. Mama calls, Caroline, no lady ever goes out without a hat.Come inside. Night is dangerous. She scolds Papa, No wonder youre sick.Youll be fine, Papa whispers to Caroline.

As they head inside, they hum a song meant to keep soldiers steps steady. Soon his sickness, not hers, fills the house. But she never feels warm. Her mouth feels like moss.

Caroline is seventeen when she packs her fathers old clothes, sells his trumpet and violin, puts away his military ribbons and star almanac. William, whos twelve years older than Caroline, returns from England, asks, Lina, do you still sing? Caroline can almost taste the questions sweetness.

She trills one of their fathers favorite tunes. When shes done, William says, Youll need to learnsome hymns and oratorios, but with training,your voice could carry higher notes. He turns to their mother. She could come live with mein England and join the choir I conduct. Mama shakes her head. Im a poor widownow and need her to keep house.Ill send money so you can hire help, William says. If she shows no giftsafter two Easter seasons, Ill send her back. Caroline keeps her head down, tugging, twisting, and crossing strands of cotton, counting stitches, knitting enough stockings to last her mother two years.

Caroline and William climb onto the roof of a mail coach, which they ride for six days and nights. Caroline and William climb onto the roof of a mail coach, which they ride for six days and nights.

They clutch each other as the horses whinny and swerve. In Holland, wind sweeps Carolines hat into a canal. She and William board a crowded ship and catch sleep while standing on the deck. Darkness and stars flicker above. The next afternoon, clouds gather. Wild waves pound the ships sides.