THE DIAMOND AND THE BOY

The Diamond and the Boy is a lyrical, double-biography picture book, telling the story of natural diamond creation on one side and the story of Tracy Hall, inventor of the first diamond-making machine on the other.
Bold, inspiring and dazzlingly told by debut author Hannah Holt, Tracy Hall's granddaughter, The Diamond and the Boy is a celebration of science, curiosity, and hope in the vein of The Boy Who Loved Math, told with the poetic styling of Laurel Snyder's Swan.

For a diamond to form, an astoundingly precise chain of events must occur. Deep beneath the earth's surface, graphite must undergo intense exposure to heat and pressure before erupting from the mantle in a rush of
magma. Only then can it become one of the rarest gems in the world.

Tracy Hall's life was like a diamond furnace. Born into poverty and bullied by his peers, no one expected him to become one of the brightest inventors of the 20th century. Driven by passionate curiosity and a slow-growing
belief in himself, he used book-knowledge and spare parts to turn his ideas into reality—first as a boy, then as a university student, then as a man with a dream to turn dust into diamonds.

A dual rock-cycle/life-cycle tale, The Diamond and the Boy takes readers on an extraordinary journey of discovery and change, from meager beginnings to sparkling heights.

Hannah Holt is the 2016 SCBWI Works-in-Progress Award Winner, the 2015 Dorothy Markinko Scholarship Award Winner, and a twotime SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant Letter of Merit recipient. A former engineer with a deep interest in poetry, she combined her love of science and language in The Diamond and the Boy and
supplemented her research with access to rare journals and anecdotes from her grandfather's life. Hannah currently lives in Oregon with her husband and four children.