Ming and Maria explore the Universe by Jackie French
Acclaimed Australian author Jackie French needs no introduction. Readers know that they are in capable, responsible and experienced hands when they pick up a book by French. Somehow one feels that this writer is capable as there is no contrivance, no scrabbling for the right phrase- just a relaxed control of plot, language, setting and character. French is no novice. Testament to that is the sheer volume of her titles which range across all genres. Ming and Maria explore the universe is the last in The girls who changed the world series which is a return to her much loved historical fiction genre. As a teacher/librarian in a former life, I recommended French's books when students were studying a period of history and needed it to be brought alive. The girls who changed the world series aims to retrieve women who achieved much in the past and whose achievements went unrecognised.
In Ming and Maria explore the universe, Ming Qong is once again travelling through time to meet girls who have changed the world - in this case to Nantucket to meet Maria Reynolds, the first professional woman astronomer in America who published, taught and inspired in the field of astronomy. Herstory, the sister of History, has been overseeing/ conducting Ming's adventures throughout the series but in this last book, she promises to reveal to Ming something of her long-lost mother. The story is chiefly set in Nantucket. Ming has time-travelled there from Port Hedland via a contemporary boarding school in Perth Australia. Skilfully, French has Ming flung abruptly, half-drowned, straight out of the ocean on the date of January 27th,1836, to be rescued and absorbed into an early Quaker community on the island of Nantucket. Her rescuers believe her to have been stolen by pirates who ranged in those days across all oceans, including American and Australian shores -a semi-plausible conclusion. Ming meets Maria Reynolds, as a young girl at the age when she was teaching in the local school. While Ming is learning from Maria she is also engaged in searching for her real mother.
The storyline unfolds with plenty of action and interest in the capable hands of French. The reader can be assured that French has paid attention to the correctness of all necessary detail of place and time. Speech patterns, vocabulary, food, utensils, clothing, racial and religious attitudes etc. have all been scrupulously studied so that the reader is not perturbed or misguided by any random tiny aspect that may be jarringly misplaced in time. Readers should be grateful that French calls herself "pernickety" about historical accuracy.
Refreshingly, French does not join the current author trend of labouring didactically and heavy handedly on the missing "herstory" from "history". Rather, she introduces the idea of "ourstory". Themes including the whaling industry, racism, religious freedom and sexism are likewise dealt with in a matter-of-fact, "part of the story" kind of way.
At the end of the story, in the Author's notes, French writes that Ming and Maria explore the universe "... is entirely fiction, except where it isn't." She goes on to detail facts about Nantucket in 1836, about Maria Mitchell's life, her work and excerpts from her diary. She also includes Maria's favourite poem which was an adaptation of Psalm 19 of the King James Bible, recipes for Fluffy Bannock and Scallop Chowder and further information on what happened in Maria Mitchell's life beyond the time-frame of the novel.
The reader, whether they are a young historian, researcher, reader for pleasure or all of the above is in very good hands with Jackie French's Ming and Maria explore the universe. The girls who changed the world, as a series, conceived by the HarperCollins Team and Jackie French's publisher, (who asked French to write a series about girls who changed the world) is recommended reading for ages 10+.
Themes: Women who have changed the world, Astronomy, Whaling industry, History, Herstory...Our story, religious persecution, racism.
Wendy Jeffrey