Q&A with Sandra Neil Wallace

 

Photo by Will Wrobel

 

 

Sandra Neil Wallace is the author of the new children's picture book biography Rock Star: How Ursula Marvin Mapped Moon Rocks and Meteorites. Her other books include Between the Lines. She is a former ESPN reporter, and she lives in New Hampshire. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write a picture book biography of geologist Ursula Marvin (1921-2018)?

 

A: After reading the obituary of Ursula Marvin in The New York Times, not only was I struck by how this seismic force in geology was still unknown (including in her own home state of Vermont), but that she had lived just over an hour from me here in New Hampshire.

 

The mountains that inspired Ursula’s lifelong quest to explore were also the same ones that I hike every year, so Ursula and her discoveries as a trailblazing scientist stayed with me.

 

Ursula uncovered so much of what we know about our moon’s origins and became a lunar expert. When I learned how her team in Antarctica discovered the first known moon meteorite on Earth, I couldn’t let these kinds of full circle moments remain buried in history.

 

Q: The author Sy Montgomery said of the book, “The stellar accomplishments of planetary geologist Ursula Marvin shine brilliantly in this exciting, lyrical, true story of adventure, science, and persistence.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: I was blown away by Sy Montgomery’s glowing review of Rock Star. To learn that Sy felt I’d achieved what I’d worked so hard to convey—the adventure, suspense, conflict, and persistence permeating Ursula’s career as a trailblazing scientist—filled me with joy.

 

And it was intentional to make the text as lyrical as possible. Ursula was a prolific and lyrical writer. I loved reading her Antarctica ice journals and articles about lunar rocks and meteorites. I tried to emulate Ursula’s poetic prose in Rock Star.

 

Q: What do you think Nancy Carpenter’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: I’ve been an admirer of Nancy’s art for many years. Her range is astounding! In Rock Star, Nancy beautifully renders Ursula’s joy of discovery—whether Ursula’s in a lab coat, her arms in a glove box examining extra-terrestrial rocks that Neil Armstrong brought back from the moon, or in a men’s-size parka in Antarctica, investigating meteorites on the ice with tongs and a hand lens.

 

I especially enjoyed discovering the recurring details Nancy incorporated into Rock Star—I call them visual throughlines—including Ursula’s knitted blue cap, which travels from Vermont to Antarctica, the puffs of her breath in the icy air, and her reflections on the Antarctica ice and snow. I like to think that those natural mirrors signify Ursula’s impact on space science.

 

Q: How did you research Ursula Marvin's life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: Well, I had hoped to spend a lot of time at the Smithsonian archives, which acquired and houses the Ursula B. Marvin collection. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, all in-person visits were cancelled.

 

I leaned into the research techniques that I’d used during my years as a news and sports reporter. I called, emailed, and interviewed colleagues of Ursula’s, including scientists she’d mentored after her vital examinations of lunar samples from all the Apollo moon missions. I also contacted Ursula’s family members.

 

These accounts, as well as images from several personal collections, brought context and depth to Rock Star.

 

What surprised me during my research was that Ursula’s university professors had the power to block women students from studying science, including geology. One of Ursula’s professors at Tufts told her that she should be studying recipes instead of rocks. Yet Ursula found agency by ignoring him and others who tried to limit her.

 

Transferring to a different school, she then spent the next 50 years breaking barriers in science and becoming a pioneering geologist in planetary science long before the word “STEM” became a household name. Ursula certainly is the epitome of the term “Women in STEM.”

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Currently, I’m focused on another changemaker overlooked in American history and am thrilled to be collaborating again with Nancy Carpenter on this project. Our next picture book together focuses on a barrier-breaking woman sports journalist and how her breakthroughs led me to become a trailblazing sports broadcaster.

 

But before that, Marie’s Magic Eggs will be published in February 2026 with Calkins Creek. It honors my Ukrainian heritage and the art of pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs). The first picture book biography on Ukrainian immigrant and pysanky entrepreneur, Marie Procai, it’s beautifully illustrated by Evan Turk.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Ursula’s many findings about the moon include discovering that its craters were caused by impact events.

 

And it was Ursula who first examined and identified the hugely popular "touchrock" lunar rock from the Apollo 17 moon mission on display at the National Air and Space Museum in D.C.—a thrill experienced by millions of kids.

 

But though she reshaped what we know about the moon and our solar system, her impact on space science has only recently been recognized by NASA.

 

When the astronauts of the Artemis III mission land on the moon—including the first woman to walk the lunar surface—they’ll glide past Marvin crater, named after Ursula Marvin.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Sandra Neil Wallace.