Lindsay Metcalf (Tomatoes on Trial) draws climate science pioneer Eunice Newton Foote out of the shadows of history in the expressive, evocative fictionalized novel-in-verse, Footeprint. Through melodic third-person poetry, Metcalf describes both the scientific and women's rights advancements this little-known American inventor achieved by "kicking the glass ceiling/ to breathe the air above." Metcalf based her work of fiction on historical fact, using minimal speculation and including images of various individuals noted in the book as well as reproductions of historical documents.
Eunice Newton, a descendent of Isaac Newton, is born in 1819 into a family that nurtures her curiosity and independence. Her parents send Eunice to Troy Female Seminary, the only school "in New York/ with a mission to teach science to girls." At Troy, Eunice rooms with Cate Cady, sister of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and she develops a lifelong friendship with both Cadys. When Eunice marries lawyer Elisha Foote, he "sees Eunice for her beauty & her brain" and she believes he "has the smarts & ambition/ to keep pace" with her. The pair "vow to leap with both feet/ into a revolution/ & a future/ united." Eunice goes to work inventing, but the broader world is not as open-minded as the Newtons and the Footes. "Because of the law,/ because of the world,/ Eunice decides/ her invention's best chance/ rests in Elisha's hands." Elisha "becomes the face" of Eunice's first patented invention--Regulating the Heat of Stoves--while "Eunice longs for the day/ when her face will be enough."
Eunice and Elisha attend the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights conference. There, they brave the risks and sign their names on the attendance roster--in the list of 100 names, Eunice's name appears fifth, after Lucretia Mott, Harriet Cady Eaton, Margaret Pryor, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In time, the work of the women's suffrage movement enables Eunice to publish her ground-breaking discovery of carbon dioxide's effects on the atmosphere under her own name in 1857. In 1859, however, John Tyndale "discovered the greenhouse effect," meaning Eunice was forgotten until 2010, when a "retired petroleum geologist" found Eunice's work and set the record straight.
Metcalf's excellent research and her artistic approach to presenting the information create a mesmerizing reading experience. The author's clever use of figurative language emphasizes the struggles Eunice endures due to gender bias--"Like the layers of her dress,/ [Eunice] must peel away misbeliefs/ one breakthrough at a time"--and her verse (often flowing into concrete poetry) displays Eunice Newton Foote as the breathtaking work of art that she is. --Jen Forbus, freelancer
Shelf Talker: A delightful novel-in-verse corrects the history books on climate science by spotlighting the incredible life of scientist and women's rights activist Eunice Newton Foote.