Claudia Said Sí! The Story of Mexico’s First Woman President

A girl’s curiosity about the natural world creates a foundation for eventual leadership across science, activism, and politics in this stirring biography of Claudia Sheinbaum (b. 1962), Mexico’s 66th president. Bodin Cohen and Olitzky use a chrysalis-to-butterfly metaphor to trace Sheinbaum’s life from her girlhood in Mexico City to the science studies that led her to becoming a professor as well as Mexico City’s secretary of the environment and mayor, and her joining an international team studying climate change that wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Intense color draws the eye into Aguilera’s textured illustrations, through which dancing monarch butterflies soar with optimism as the subject says “Sí!” to every opportunity, eventually leading the people of Mexico to elect her as president—“the first woman, the first Jewish person, and the first scientist to lead the country.” An authors’ note and resources conclude. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 6–8. (Sept.)