women's history month Archives

March 20, 2015March 19, 2015

Things Are Looking Up With Maria Mitchell

Have you been keeping up with the posts at KidLit Celebrates Women’s History Month blog? There have been some gems this year.

Do biographies of women need to be middle grade or young adult level? I have long been a fan of the picture book biography, and now Anna Butzer shows us the importance of beginning reader biographies with Maria Mitchell (Great Women in History) .

This small book goes a long way to tell the story of pioneering female scientist Maria Mitchell, who was trained as an astronomer by her father. The author reveals that while Maria Mitchell was working as a librarian, she spent her nights searching the skies with a telescope. Eventually she discovered a comet that no one else had seen. She was on her way to becoming our first professional female astronomer.

If you are looking for a way to teach timelines, this book would be an excellent choice. There is an ongoing timeline at the bottom of each two-page spread. With each event recounted, a new date and summary of the event are added to the growing timeline. Brilliant!

Be sure to pick up Maria Mitchell for Women’s History Month to share with beginning readers or even slightly older children looking for a subject for a wax museum project.

(Public domain image of Maria Mitchell from Wikimedia)

Maria Mitchell Association website

See our growing list of biographies of women scientists at Science Books for Kids

Age Range: 4 – 8 years
Grade Level: Kindergarten – 1
Publisher: Pebble Books (July 1, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1491405422
ISBN-13: 978-1491405420

Disclosures: The book was supplied by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.

February 25, 2015February 25, 2015

Honoring Women’s History in March

Did you know it will be Women’s History Month in March? What better way to celebrate than by sharing children’s literature about women’s contributions?

For the fifth consecutive year, librarians Margo Tanenbaum of The Fourth Musketeer and Lisa Taylor of Shelf-Employed are bringing together distinguished authors and illustrators of children’s books related to women’s history at the KidLit Celebrates Women’s History Month blog.

The blog will publish regularly from March 1 through March 31, 2015. If you aren’t sure you’ll remember to check back (like me), you can sign up to follow the blog or receive it via email (Visit the site at http://kidlitwhm.blogspot.com to see options).

For more ideas how to bring children’s literature about women’s history to the children you work with, be sure to skim through the older posts (for example this one of hands-on activities using the featured books in 2014) and the Internet links to educational resources.

If you choose, please let us know about your favorite finds.

Visit 21 Children’s Books About Women Scientists at Science Books for Kids.

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Girls Research: Amazing Tales of Female Scientists

It’s Women’s History Month, and what better way to celebrate than learning about groundbreaking women with Girls Research!: Amazing Tales of Female Scientists (Girls Rock!) (Girls Rock!) by Jennifer Phillips?

Sometimes it may seem like there were only a few significant women scientists in the past because the same names keep popping up. This book changes all that by giving brief overviews of the lives of 56 women scientists. That’s right, 56! Some are famous, some are lost in the annals of history, but all made important contributions to the field of science and medicine.

Especially useful is the timeline that records the decade in which the women performed their most historical research. The timeline runs from Maria Mitchell in the 1840s to Elena Aprile in the 2010s. Haven’t heard of Aprile? She’s an astrophysicist who is looking for evidence of dark matter in an underground laboratory in Italy.

Girls Research! is the perfect jumping off place to start a research project into women’s history. When children come to you with instructions that their report that must be from a book that is at least 100 pages long, hand them this 64 page book and let them figure out which stories make them want to learn more.

Perhaps the story to inspire them might be that of Barbara McClintock, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1983 for her discovery of jumping genes.

(Photograph: Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) Acc. 90-105 – Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives)

Girls Research!: Amazing Tales of Female Scientists (Girls Rock!) (Girls Rock!) by Jennifer Phillips.

Age Range: 9 – 13 years
Grade Level: 4 – 5
Lexile Measure: 900L (What’s this?)
Series: Girls Rock!
Library Binding: 64 pages
Publisher: Savvy (January 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 147654056X
ISBN-13: 978-1476540566

Looking for more books about women scientists?

Try our list of 21 Children’s Books about Women Scientists at Science Books for Kids.

Disclosures: This book were provided by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at not extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. Join us at the new Nonfiction Monday blog.

March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

March is a Great Month For Children’s Books!

Are you Reading Across America today?

The National Education Association is sponsoring the 16th annual Read Across America on March 1, 2013, as the start of the NEA’s National Reading Month. Even if you don’t participate today, you might be interested in their extensive lists of resources to help with future projects.

Also on tap this month, the children’s literature experts are rounding up some fabulous and exciting information about women’s history at Kidlit Celebrates Women’s History Month.

I am pleased to announce that this year’s theme is for Women’s History Month is women in STEM. Look for more about that next week.

Also next week comes World Read Aloud Day, March 6, 2013.

This event is for everyone, adults and children. It is designed to promote worldwide literacy. You can also download LitWorld’s picture book New Day, New Friends on the page linked above.

If you are a serious bibliophile, you might want to check out the 50th anniversary Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Monday March 25 through Thursday March 28, 2013, although it is “is rigorously reserved to professional operators.”

Are there any events I missed? How are you celebrating children’s literacy this month?