(3) K-3 Illustrated by Luciano Lozano. This picture-book biography of Spain’s first scientific Nobel Prize winner, Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934), moves from his imagination-filled childhood in the mountain village of Petilla to his groundbreaking discovery of the structure of the nervous system at the age of thirty-six. Readers will be delighted by the snapshots of a self-willed, precocious, inventive young boy who bucked his teachers’ attempts to clip his artist’s wings, and initially resisted following in his doctor-father’s footsteps, only to fall in love with the field of neuroanatomy on his own terms. Lozano’s stylized digital illustrations are interspersed with fascinating facsimiles of Ramón y Cajal’s photography, paintings, and medical drawings. Back matter delves into the anatomy of a neuron and expounds on Ramón y Cajal’s life and works. A compelling testament to the value of unconventional thinking.

Reviewer: Summer Edward