Biographies about famous women aren’t just for girls any more. The female gender is and has been creating, achieving, imagining new ways and new worlds. Grab these titles and others about girls and women who changed the universe. Read on!
by Meribeth C. Shank
Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing
by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Lucy Knisley
As Margaret Hamilton was growing up, her father encouraged her curious questions. She was interested in sports, reading, art, music, and especially mathematics and the night sky. Later, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, during the early days of computers, Margaret combined her interests and challenged herself by teaching herself to write code that started with simple mathematics, became more complicated for tracking airplanes and then went on to predicting the weather. As she began to program computers, she started calling herself a software engineer.
Knisley’s cartoon style illustrations add comic relief and companion Robbins’ accessible text, making this outstanding picture book biography engaging for young readers. The narrative builds and in 1964, Hamilton joins NASA to use her programming skills on Project Apollo. In order to get the astronauts to the moon and back she works “her way through the steps just as she used to do in math class.” But when Apollo 11’s lunar module, The Eagle, overloads with too many tasks, minutes away from the moon landing, Margaret’s code overrides the problem, getting the LM to touch down safely!
An author’s note, bibliography, and additional reading are included at the end.
Knopf, $17.99
Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 4
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library: Allapattah, North Dade Regional, West Kendall Regional. Also, may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
by Cynthia Levinson, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
During the early part of 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks and her family frequently hosted Mike, Fred, and Jim — the ministers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel, respectively. This was a time when many “grown-ups talked about wiping out the segregation laws that kept black and white people apart.” Audrey, who knew about segregation, wanted to do something. She heard the testimonies at church about how people were treated. She was there for discussions and planning strategies, “Picket . . . March . . . get arrested.”
But when Mike’s idea to protest segregation and “fill the jails” with adults didn’t work, young Audrey promptly becomes one of the early volunteers for Jim’s new idea—having the children march. The mostly colorful digital collage illustrations provide an upbeat accompaniment to the spirited text. Leading up to the march, young Audrey is even shown carrying a board game to entertain herself in jail. Later, words and pictures combined show Audrey’s actual discomfort in jail; loneliness (she’s the youngest and doesn’t know any of the other older children arrested), tasteless food, angry white folks asking her questions, even solitary confinement. When the jails are full and Audrey goes home, her relief and that of her family (and the reader) is unquestionable – from the expressive faces to “hot rolls, baptized in butter!” and the promise of changed segregation laws in Birmingham. (Author’s note, timeline, recipe, sources are all included at the end.)
Atheneum, $17.99
Interest Level: Grade 2-5
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library: North Dade Regional, South Dade Regional. Also, may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)
Dorothea’s Eyes: Dorothea Lange Photographs the Truth
by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Gerard DuBois
This brief and excellent picture book biography of acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange has a straightforward text partnering with muted acrylic & digital illustrations. The paintings have an almost bleached look that lends realism to and complements the era that spans her life, especially the years of the Depression.
Lange’s eyes “see what others miss,” she loves faces, she pretends to be invisible, by blending into the background, she “sees with her eyes and her heart.” Her time of illness, beginning as a young child with polio, leaves her with a “forever-withered leg.” As a result, however, her understanding of the mix of happy and sad that others experience strengthens, making her curious and watchful.
As a young woman, Lange decides to become a photographer against her family’s wishes. She brings this heart for knowing “about people the world ignores” to her photography work. These “good people in real trouble” are the ones Dorothea’s camera eye sees and turns into art, turns into a message of truth – that “each person is special. That people need each other.” Reproductions of Lange’s photographs enrich this resource which is beyond biography; it skillfully includes U.S. history, and is a keen addition to women’s studies. (Back matter includes an author’s note, bibliography, resources, and timeline.)
Calkins Creek, $16.95
Interest Level: Grade 3-6
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library: Culmer Overtown, Little River, Miami Lakes. Also, may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)
Meribeth Shank is a writer who earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has taught adult classes on Writing Books for Young People, and among her many lives has served as a Media Specialist Teacher, a Kindergarten Teacher, a Children’s Librarian, and a Bookseller. You can find her on the web: http://meribeths.blogspot.com
