Perkin’s Perfect Purple

Co-written with Debbie L. Dunn, and illustrated by Francesca Sanna, this is the fascinating true story of groundbreaking chemist William Perkin, who used the scientific method to create the color purple.

Many years ago, the color purple was available only to a privileged few. Making purple was tricky. The dye was concocted from a certain snail, and later, from plants, bugs, and rocks. Then it had to be soaked in minerals and . . . urine! The process was very complicated and expensive (not to mention smelly!).

Until 1856, when a boy named William Henry Perkin invented a new way. While testing a hypothesis about a cure for malaria, he found that his experiment resulted in something else — something vivid and rare for the times: synthetic PURPLE. Perkin, a pioneer of the modern scientific method, made numerous advances possible, including canned food and chemotherapy. But it was his creation of purple that started it all.

Rights details

World rights: Little, Brown (October 2020)
Complex Chinese: Taiwan Mac Educational Co

Good news

Cook Prize Honoree, given by Bank Street College of Education

The Cook Prize

Kirkus Starred Review

“Brisk, alliterative and full of well-chosen details … Perfect for STEAM-infused reading.”

The Author

Tami Brown

Tami Lewis Brown is the author of the MG novel, THE MAP OF ME (FSG), as well as several picture books. Her debut PB was SOAR, ELINOR! which was excellently reviewed. She has a picture book about the New York artist Keith Haring publishing in 2020, and another, co-authored with Debbie Loren Dunn, about the women mathematicians who worked on the ENIAC computer, coming in the same year. PERKIN’S PURPLE – about the character and science behind the discovery of the color purple -will follow in 2021. She grew up on a Kentucky horse farm, was a trial lawyer before turning to writing, and she has an MFA from Vermont College of the Fine Arts in writing for young readers. She lives with her family in one of the oldest houses in Washington DC.

www.tamilewisbrown.com

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