Another wonderful addition to this beautiful series. Simply story with lovely illustrations. There is even more detailed information at the end for those who want to learn more.

In this series, María Isabel Sánchez Vegara charts the lives of incredible women throughout history from their start as just young children with big dreams, to people who changed the world. Honestly, it is wonderful - we need to show children that they can follow in these people’s footsteps; that they can reach for the stars and become whoever they want to be. And, Mary Shelley is certainly someone that I have always wanted to model myself after: a pioneer, a trailblazer, a ground-breaker. Someone who did something that many at the time doubted that women could even do. Her words twirled and entwined and sprawled across the page to bring a monster, and an entire genre, to life. And, seeing as much of what I read today, comes from the work of Shelley, a woman whose delightfully frightful tales have inspired young boys and girls across the world to pick up their pens and create their own magic, I must remember to thank her always.
Read it for your children, read it for yourself - just read it and be inspired.

I love this series of books. The illustrations are always vibrant and wonderful and the story is condensed yet gives a good overview of the person's life.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I'm loving this series of biographies for kids. Easy to read and fun illustrations.

I love a lot of the books in this series, but this one was a disappointment. The artwork is muddy and not very pleasant to look at, and I don't think it would appeal to children (or to adults reading this book to them at bedtime). Mary Shelley is a brilliant writer, underappreciated in her time, with a fascinating and tragic life – and none of that comes through in this book. It mentions only Frankenstein and doesn't convey how or why it was so important as a piece of fiction, and there's no mention of what Shelley had to overcome in her personal or professional life. Such a shame as I'd love to be able to share Shelley's life story with the small humans in my life.

Mary Shelley is a book in the Little People, Big Dreams series. The book tells about Mary's life from birth through becoming an author, focusing on the most influential events in her life. Although parts of the book may be challenging for sensitive children (such as the death of Mary's mother), those events had an impact on young Mary. I appreciate the openness and honesty in this book, such as how Mary fell in love and ran off with a married man. Again, such topics may be difficult for some children to comprehend, but these events played a role in who Mary Shelley became. I appreciate the way the author approaches difficult topics in a straightforward fashion with simple sentences and does not linger on them. The timeline in the back of the book highlights important moments in Mary Shelley's life as well as events related to the success of Frankenstein.

I recommend this book for elementary children that are interested in biographies and/or horror. Frankenstein is definitely something that most children will have heard of, however few will know details about the author. Mary Shelley overcame many challenges in her time, such as being a woman and becoming a published author, and was innovative in her writing (Frankenstein includes elements of science that were newly emerging at that time).

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #MaryShelley

Another fantastic book from this series! I didn't know much about Mary Shelley but my 5 year old and I enjoyed learning about her while reading this. I love this series!

This latest in the Little People, Big Dreams series brings Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein, to life. Mary lost her mother young but did not lose her mother’s love of books and reading. Then, at one of her father’s house gatherings, she met and fell in love with Percy Bryce Shelley. From there it was a relatively short path to Byron’s challenge to multiple house guests to write a horror story. And from this challenge arose the monster, Frankenstein.

The edition I reviewed was the children’s board book edition, simplified for younger readers but still with beautiful and colorful artwork The longer book edition, intended for older young adult readers expands on the board book edition and also has more historical and biographical information.

This is an excellent addition to a wonderful series that I recommend highly. Take a look at the books and I’m quite sure you will find something perfect for the young reader in your life.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

'Mary Shelley' by Ma Isabel Sanchez Vegara with illustrations by Julie Morstad is part of the Little People, Big Dreams series.

Mary Shelley was born curious with parents that encouraged that. After losing her mother and getting a new stepmother, Mary spent a lot of quiet time writing. When she grew up, her interest in science informed her most famous work: Frankenstein.

I love this series and read all of them that I'm offered. The brief bios are well done and some times I even learn something new. The illustration style this time around has a darker color palette and it felt like the figures were all leaning to one side, but I liked the style.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I have read many of the books in this series and enjoyed them. However, this installment was quite disappointing. While it covered how Mary Shelley met her husband and why she began writing Frankenstein, there was nothing about who she was as a person and what her inspirations were.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The ‘My First Little People, Big Dreams’ series provides informative and inspirational biographies about people who left a mark on this earth, no matter what difficulties they have encountered.
These stories are very short, but that’s because they’re books for children, so it’s totally understandable.
I think they are a very smart and wonderful way to introduce little children to such important figures.
This one is about Mary Shelley, an amazing woman and writer, who, against all social rules, wrote "Frankenstein" and gave officially birth to the first modern science fiction.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. It's a good short intro to Mary Shelley's life for kids. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

Mary Shelley is one of the Little People, Big Dreams series. I have only read a few of these books but think they are a fantastic series to inspire children to aim for their dreams.

This story is quite dark compared to others I've seen but I think it was done in a good way as it shows that although Mary's life was difficult and challenging as a child that she still found a way to follow her dreams and put herself first when she might have otherwise been expected to follow a standard path for the time. I think Mary is a great character for the children to see as she is shown to be so strong and fearless and she didn't give up even when society insinuates that she shouldn't be doing certain things as it's not the norm.

The illustrations in the book are lovely with lots of darker shades and colours in a cartoon style. With the darkness of the story, this works perfectly with the book and it's great to see how Mary's life changed from when she was a baby right up to her as an adult and the details in the illustrations really helping us understand how she might've felt.

The page at the back of the book describing her story and some photos is a great way to remind the children how though it's written like a story, that it's very real and is a great way for adults to get a general or broader idea of the story before reading. This is a really lovely book on Mary Shelley, an inspiring book for children and great fun to read.

Just like the other books in this charming series for children, this biography about author Mary Shelley focuses on her childhood and how her first success - writing "Frankenstein" - came about. The illustrations are all very fitting.

I just wondered if young children - the target group for this book - have even heard about "Frankenstein" at all. Mine haven't, and I'm not likely to read it to them anytime soon. But on the other hand is this book not about Frankenstein, but about "Little People having Big Dreams", and working hard to make these dreams come true.

Just in time for Halloween month - and to prepare for the Frankenstein tour I'm hopefully taking in a couple of weeks! A truly gorgeous, dark romantic illustration style to match Mary Shelley's life story - although the fact that she eloped with a married man might be an aspect of it that children should best ignore, haha. Still, a lovely little book!

Mary Shelley is a nice illustrated book for children that quickly introduces Mary Shelley’s life and achievements. The text is solid enough, decently varied and successfully pitches its tone and vocabulary to its target audience, though I wouldn’t say it stands out in any way, either with startling imagery, metaphor, or lyrical language. The illustrations, however, are a definite strength, nicely mirroring the gothic imagery of Shelley’s novels, as when her father holds her as a child in front of her mother’s grave, stark leafless trees in the background. The author of course retells the famous night at Byron’s involving the ghost story contest that birthed Frankenstein, but what I really appreciated was that she also relates (and shows via illustration) how Shelley was inspired by her scientific curiosity/knowledge. While the author does mention Shelley wrote other works, I wish she would have given some of their names so Shelley isn’t considered a one-note, even if her first was obviously her most successful and significant. The book ends with two more dense paragraphs to give some historical context. Recommended.

This was a short and sweet book about one of my favourite authors, Mary Shelley. I loved the illustrations and how the story of her life was told.

I liked that the illustrations conveyed the Gothic story that Mary would come to write. They stuck to a muted colour pallet and helped to tell the story effectively.

The story was a good introduction for young children but slightly older readers might want more.

L Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Francis Lincoln Children’s Books for granting my wish for a copy of ‘Mary Shelley’ written by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrated by Yelana Bryksenkova in exchange for an honest review.

This little picture book is intended for children aged 4-7. It is Book 37 in the publishers acclaimed ‘Little People, BIG DREAMS’ series that introduces young readers to the lives and works of significant people via books and educational games.

Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara has contributed a number of titles to this series. It’s an informative, well illustrated book. She has sketched in a few pages details of Mary Shelley’s life and the genesis of Frankenstein. The art work is striking and well illustrates the period with some Gothic flourishes.

Care has also been given to present the more scandalous aspects of Mary’s life in an age appropriate fashion. I am a great admirer of Mary Shelley and I hope that this picture book biography might sow the seeds of interest in her life, ‘Frankenstein’, and science fiction in young readers.

I would have loved to read this book (and others in the series) when I was this age. I would certainly recommend it to parents, librarians, and teachers.

True to form, this little book about Mary Shelley, author of the classic Frankenstein that many consider as a starting point for sci fi, has a muted colour palette that could be straight out of a Tim Burton Movie. Of course I approve.

As the title of the series is little people, big dreams, we meet Mary as she still is a child, and see how she grows up to achieve her dream of telling stories. We are told that she had to publish under a man's name, and also that her mother was a famous feminist, so this book would be a great entrypoint into the history of women's rights and why feminism is still important for children.
At the end, at the recommendation of the rest of the picture book series, we also have recommendations of other books about Mary Shelley, directly after the time table that gives more information on her history.

No mention of Percy's calcified heart, though.

This is one of the most goth picture books I ever had the pleasure to read.
Be warned that reading one book from this series makes you want to all the rest as this makes learning fun.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.