Little People, Big Dreams: Stephen Hawkins
This book, from the popular Little People, BIG DREAMS series, invites young readers to explore the life of British physicist and allround genius Stephen Hawking. The story opens when he is a little boy, looking up at the stars in Oxford. It takes readers through his unspectacular school years and on to university where he shines.
He also learns to deal with motor neurone disease and his loss of mobility. ‘Instead of looking down at his feet, Stephen decided to look up at the stars. Maybe he couldn’t control his body, but in order to study the universe, all he needed was his mind,’ the book explains. It wisely steers away from discussing quantum gravity and string theory and instead singles out the physicist’s discovery of Hawking radiation. The author leaves young readers with the message that ‘however difficult life may seem, there is always something that you can do and succeed at’.
This empowering story is brought to life with quirky and affectionate illustrations from Matt Hunt. It also includes a detailed biography at the end, for more advanced readers, and references to other books about Stephen Hawking. Other books in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series explore the lives of people such as Agatha Christie, Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks. In all cases, they began life as a child with a dream and ended up achieving great things.
