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Coming August 19, 2025. Pre-order today!Wanda Hears the StarsA Blind Astronomer Listens to the UniverseBy: Amy S. Hansen and Wanda Daz Merced / Illustrated by: Roco Arreola MendozaMira arriba! The stars belong to everyone!Growing up in Puerto Rico, Wanda D
By: Amy S. Hansen and Wanda Daz Merced / Illustrated by: Roco Arreola Mendoza
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Wanda Daz Merced wanted to learn everything she could about the stars. But in college she started losing her sight. How could she study what she couldn’t see?
Wanda found a way. She learned to hear the stars using sonification, which converts data into sounds. Listening to those chimes and drumbeats, she made new discoveries about the universe.
Today Wanda is a leading advocate for inclusive science. She and her friend Amy S. Hansen collaborated on this book to inspire children to follow their curiosity no matter the challenges. As Wanda urges, “Never give up!”
“A truly beautiful story of determination in the face of difficulty. Highly, highly recommend.”
Melinda Brady, elementary science educator
“With its strong story and effective integration of fascinating science, the book should inspire middle-grade students and teachers and help fulfill Wandas own mission: Proving that Science is for everyone!”
Marcia Clemmitt/freelance journalist/ CQ Researcher, The Scientist
If you like this book, youll enjoy these:
Mario and the Hole in the Sky
Unlocking the Universe
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Amy S. Hansen, author
Amy S. Hansen is an award-winning science writer who has published more than thirty books. Her favorite part of her job is finding out the answers to mysteries. Sometimes that means interviewing people, traveling to new places, or taking things apart to see how they work. It always means reading a lot!
Read more about Amy.
Wanda Daz Merced, author
Wanda Daz Merced believes that science is for everyone! As a blind astrophysicist, she studies the stars by turning data into sound. She is a leading advocate for multisensorial data, which increases access to information, and has spoken before the UN and given TED talks about the need for more inclusive science.
Read more about Wanda.
Roco Arreola Mendoza, illustrator
Roco Arreola Mendoza is the illustrator of Sea of Constellations, Paula’s Patches, and other picture books for children. She is also a freelance illustrator and the co-founder of Crcumas, a women-led creative studio. She lives with her family in northern Mexico.
Read more about Roco.
School Library Journal
This picture book biography with STEM connections and disability representation shares the fascinating story of astronomer Wanda Daz Merced. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Daz Merced was fascinated by the stars and chased her dream to study them all the way to college. But when she began losing her eyesight due to diabetes, she had to find a new way to see what she had dedicated her whole life to. Not one to give up when faced with a challenge, Daz Merced threw herself into the field of sonification, where numerical astronomic datasets are turned into sound, revealing new insights into celestial activity. Mendozas whimsical illustrations amplify the themes of magic and discovery surrounding Daz Merceds work. Thorough back matter is available in both the English and Spanish versions, including notes from both authors, information about the scientific concepts discussed, a time line of Daz Merceds career, and sources for further reading. VERDICT Readers will walk away inspired by the world around them and Daz Merceds creativity and determination. Recommended for all libraries.
Booklist
This picture-book biography traces the struggle and triumph of a little girl who kept searching until she found a new path to viewing the stars. Today, Merced is a world-renowned astrophysicist and advocate for inclusivity in science, but as a child, she never saw stars at all, as the rain-forest canopy in Puerto Rico, where she grew up, obscured her view. When Merced was nine, on a fishing trip with her father, she saw stars for the first time, as well as a meteor shower. This was the revelationbrilliantly conveyed by Mendoza through pointy stars and streams of colorthat transformed Merceds life, leading her to study physics. After Merced lost her sight as a college student, she learned that she could access the stars by tuning into radio waves in space, allowing her to hear what she couldnt see, part of the process of sonification, explained clearly and compellingly in the text. The digital illustrations, with their startling images of light and dark, enhance the theme. A Note from Wanda at books end includes her rallying cry, Science is for everyone!
Kirkus Reviews
Astronomer and co-author Daz Merced explains how, after going blind, she used sound to make a groundbreaking discovery.
In Gurabo, Wandas Puerto Rican hometown, the rainforest hid the stars. So when 9-year-old Wanda witnessed a meteor shower, she lit up with wonder. Her curiosity persisted; in college, Wanda studied physics and aimed for the stars. But in Wandas third year, she went blind as a result of diabetes, and the stars had dimmed, too. How could she study what she couldnt see? Fortunately, a friend introduced Wanda to radio waves that recorded sounds from space, and she heard a path to the sky. At NASA, Wanda used sonificationthe conversion of visual data into soundsto study the stars. Still, she worried about keeping up with her colleagues. Through sonification, however, Wanda discovered oscillations in a stars energy, something nobody else had noticedconfirming that using sound didnt mean she had less information. It just meant she had to work differently. The onomatopoeia-adorned text includes Spanish dialogue and concludes with a rousing invitation: Look up! Mira arriba! The stars belong to everyone! Arreola Mendozas vibrant cartoon illustrations, with dark, jewel-toned hues evoking the night sky, convey Wandas fascination and determination and the beauty of space. Extensive backmatter provides further details about sonification and Daz Merceds adaptation to blindness. Most figures, including Wanda, have brown skin.
Uplifting and informative.
English Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-487-4
Spanish Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-488-1
Ages: 69
Page count: 40
81/2x 11
Publication date:August 19, 2025
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