While a bit more academic than many picture book biographies, Foote Was First!: How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change by Jen Bryant and Amy June Bates (illustrator), is well written and illustrated, presenting highlighted events in the life of Eunice Foote.
That is a simplified (and not exactly grammatically correct) description of the book. I can’t really say a lot about the book other than it is oddly simpler with the illustrations and yet there is a complexity to them. The colors are both bold and while not muted, are not jumping off the pages either (the cover gives you a good idea of how things will look). It is more scholarly and therefore has a slow pace for reading. It is a picture book, but meant for older readers.
Currently available, I did read it via an online reader. This is because it just came out a few days before I read it and I hadn’t been able to get my hands on a copy. But I plan on getting one for my local library. As well as Change Is in the Air: The Hidden Discoveries of Eunice Newton Foote, the First Climate Scientist (due February 2026). The reason I want to read both books (read Change again) is because I found an article talking about the reasons why the authors (Change is by Rebecca Donnelly and Merce Lopez) picked this subject. Also included in this article was Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights, a novel in verse which is due in February 2026 as well).
This is a good book for the classroom and probably less as a one-on-one read, but if you’re looking for a full biography this won’t be it as it does hit on the discovery and less on her personal life
