In Sophia's dream, all the animals had their coats blown off and so she has to make new ones for them, adding her own special touches.  This is the story of "fur and feathers" which introduces young children to animal classification.

The story has a good variety of common animals with different coats.  A few parts are a bit contrived, like the frog finding the slime, but otherwise the story is engaging.  The "For Creative Minds" section at the end of the book contains activities based on animal classification.

Regarding the scientific life of Gregor Mendel, there’s not much to tell. He grew up desperately poor and sought the priesthood to escape the robata system of farming. After carrying out his now famous experiments, the significance of which not even the best scientific minds of the day could grasp, he became abbot of the St. Thomas friary, a position whose demands prevented further scientific endeavors. Mawer tells Mendel’s story and gives the details, but only enough to give us a sense of Mendel the scientist.

I learned a few things from this young adult book about the life of Charles Darwin after his adventures on the H.M.S. Beagle. The book is based on his and his wife’s diary entries and because Charles was the more prolific writer we have more of his insights than Emma’s. The quoted material is more of a sprinkling than a basis for the book so it is mostly the author’s interpretation rather than their actual words. Charles was agnostic from the start.