Jellyfish Scientist: Maude Delap and Her Mesmerizing Medusas

Illustrated by Ellen Rooney
Meet scientist Maude Delap in this riveting STEM biography that details her biggest experiment—her observations of and research about jellyfish.

Maude scoops a jellyfish out of the water and embarks on more than a year of observation of the animal, accomplishing something countless other scientists were unable to do: trace the life cycle of a jellyfish and understand the creature’s metamorphosis from larva to adult.

Maude’s story must be told. Her painstaking observations of a compass jellyfish in 1899-1900 laid the foundation for research still ongoing today.
Michelle Cusolito is the author of A Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea, Diving Deep: Using Machines to Explore the Ocean, and Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin, which also won the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award. She has worked as a fourth grade teacher, a curriculum specialist, and an adjunct professor. She lives in Rochester, Massachusetts.

Ellen Rooney is an illustrator, designer, and artist. She loves graphic shapes, textured colour, creating an atmosphere, and telling a story with pictures. She is the illustrator of The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything: The Story of Margaret Mitchell, The Heart of the Storm: A Biography of Sue Bird, and Her Fearless Run: Katharine Switzer's Historic Boston Marathon. https://ellenrooneydesign.com
  • AWARD | 2025
    Junior Library Guild Selection
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additional book photo
additional book photo

About

Meet scientist Maude Delap in this riveting STEM biography that details her biggest experiment—her observations of and research about jellyfish.

Maude scoops a jellyfish out of the water and embarks on more than a year of observation of the animal, accomplishing something countless other scientists were unable to do: trace the life cycle of a jellyfish and understand the creature’s metamorphosis from larva to adult.

Maude’s story must be told. Her painstaking observations of a compass jellyfish in 1899-1900 laid the foundation for research still ongoing today.

Author

Michelle Cusolito is the author of A Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea, Diving Deep: Using Machines to Explore the Ocean, and Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin, which also won the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award. She has worked as a fourth grade teacher, a curriculum specialist, and an adjunct professor. She lives in Rochester, Massachusetts.

Ellen Rooney is an illustrator, designer, and artist. She loves graphic shapes, textured colour, creating an atmosphere, and telling a story with pictures. She is the illustrator of The Astronomer Who Questioned Everything: The Story of Margaret Mitchell, The Heart of the Storm: A Biography of Sue Bird, and Her Fearless Run: Katharine Switzer's Historic Boston Marathon. https://ellenrooneydesign.com

Awards

  • AWARD | 2025
    Junior Library Guild Selection

Photos

additional book photo
additional book photo
additional book photo

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