If you have seen the new Google Doodle, then you know that it’s International Women’s Day. Whether you’re raising boys or girls, today is a great opportunity for talking about the status of women around the world.
This year’s theme is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures. Here is a list of books portraying historical and contemporary women and girls that should do just that.
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Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker by Kathryn Lasky illustrated by Nneka Bennett
Sarah Breedlove Walker (1867-1919) was a chemist, business owner, community leader, and advocate for the rights of black women. Born a sharecropper’s child, she became the owner of the Mme. C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, one of the largest businesses in America in the early twentieth century. Along the way, she was influenced by Margaret and Booker T. Washington. Her life story is told in clear prose and wonderful pencil and watercolor illustrations. A picture of Sarah in her at-home laboratory is particularly inspiring.
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Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
While modern girls are encouraged to pursue careers in math and science, it wasn’t the case during young Mattie’s time. Based on the life of Margaret E. Knight, Marvelous Mattie takes readers back to the Industrial Revolution in a true story with as many dramatic turns of events as any work of fiction. Always an imaginative child, Mattie uses her father’s toolbox to put her ideas into practice, creating kites, footwarmers, and other life-enhancing devices for her family. Economic circumstances later compel Mattie’s mother (and eventually a teenage Mattie herself) to take grueling work in the New England textile mills—an experience that prompts Mattie to begin designing machines that are both safer and more efficient. There is much trial and error in Mattie’s inventing process, and her perseverance despite setbacks is a good lesson for young readers. The story is moved along nicely by McCully’s soft watercolor illustrations, but what are even more interesting are the many line drawings of invention designs—some of which are from the actual 1871 patent of one of Knight’s machines. A biographical note and a bibliography for further reading round out the book. This is an excellent book for classrooms and school libraries, and a good inspirational tale for like-minded girls.
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Frida by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Ana Juan
Frida Kahlo, one of Mexico’s best-known artists, is brought to life for children through the pathos, humor and considerable affection in Winter’s story and Juan’s illustrations. They describe how from a young age the artist overcame her loneliness and poor health by inventing imaginary friends and, more usefully, by drawing. Even early on, we note her trademark brow, which has been variously interpreted as a scowl masking pain, an innate self-protectiveness signaling “stay away,” or simple dignity. Here, Ana Juan presents it without character interpretation. She shows her eyebrows as a flying bird. Juan approximates Kahlo’s style, a synthesization of Mexican folk art, flora and fauna, the surrealism that was an emerging painting style of her time, and quite lurid biographical subject matter. Kahlo’s lugubriousness is offset by whimsy, and what might have seemed an unlikely subject for a children’s book proves enjoyable. As author Jonah Winter notes, “She has specifically been an inspiration to women artists, who have found in Kahlo’s strength, courage, and pizzazz an example of how to thrive as a woman in an art world dominated by men.”
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Vinnie and Abraham by Dawn Fitzgerald illustrated by Catherine Stock
There’s no shortage of children’s material about Abe Lincoln, but this new non-fiction picture book by Dawn Fitzgerald is a notable deviation from the standard Lincoln biography. Here, the focus is primarily on Vinnie Ream, a gifted young sculptor who defied society’s objections against her age and gender in order to create a lasting tribute to our sixteenth president. Ream identified with Lincoln’s self-taught background and was moved by his “brave, sad face,” wanting to capture his humanity in marble. Lincoln, meanwhile, burdened by the Civil War and feeling himself too homely to be worthy of a statue, was reluctant. But Ream’s determination won him over, as did her humble origins. Thought Lincoln: “’Poor? Self-taught? Raised in a log cabin? Such a person is not unfamiliar to me.’” As a mere teenager, Ream was given a regular appointment with the president, five days a week for a half hour until the sculpture was complete. Despite this coup, Ream’s struggle for artistic recognition remained an uphill battle for some time. Fitzgerald’s text brings this remarkable story to life in easy-to-follow language, touching on women’s rights, war, and other issues of the nineteenth century.
Fiction
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Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea David Pinkney
Scholastic launched its Dear America series over a decade ago, and since then it has published more than two dozen books told through the journal entries and letters of young female narrators.
Andrea Davis Pinkney’s 12-year-old heroine, Dawn Rae Johnson, lives in 1955 Alabama. The Supreme Court has just ruled segregation unconstitutional, and Dawn has the chance to attend the all-white school across town where the textbooks are up-to-date, the teachers are better equipped and learning opportunities are greater. Dawn is smart and ambitious. She has dreams and she knows what she must do to realize them.
What follows is a heart-wrenching story of one girl’s courage and a family and community’s sacrifice. Dawn’s father loses his job because of the unwanted attention he receives after she enrolls in the school. The entire family is harassed and shunned by families both white and black. The horrible things printed about Dawn and her family in the local newspaper is nothing compared to the indignities, from students and teachers alike, that Dawn faces daily.
Pinkney writes a moving and informative story, told through the eyes of a brave and spunky young girl.
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Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
Andrew Clements’ poignant novel traces the correspondence of two 6th-graders, one American and one Afghani, across two cultures and 7000 miles. As the title implies, the letter writing begins as a school project for Abby, a struggling student in the mid-western United States. Her penpal is Sadeed, chosen by his progressive-minded teacher as one of the brightest students in his community. However, because of the strict laws governing gender relations in Afghanistan, Sadeed’s correspondence with a young American girl must be kept secret from the village elders. Clements’ story raises interesting topics such as women’s rights, cultural differences and the ongoing struggle for peace in the Middle East.
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