Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist


Linda Skeers - 2020
    This is the story of Dinosaur Lady.Mary Anning loved scouring the beach near her home in England for shells and fossils. She fearlessly climbed over crumbling cliffs and rocky peaks, searching for new specimens. One day, something caught Mary's eye.Bones. Dinosaur Bones.Mary's discoveries rocked the world of science and helped create a brand-new field of study: paleontology. But many people believed women couldn't be scientists, so Mary wasn't given the credit she deserved. Nevertheless, Mary kept looking and learning more, making discoveries that reshaped scientific beliefs about the natural world.Dinosaur Lady is a beautiful and brilliant picture book that will enlighten children about the discovery of the dinosaurs and the importance of female scientists. It also includes a timeline of Mary Anning's life and lots of fantastic fossil facts!

It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way


Kyo Maclear - 2019
    Now it's time for Gyo's story to be told -- a story of artistic talent that refused to be constrained by rules or expectations.Growing up quiet and lonely at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gyo learned from her relatives the ways in which both women and Japanese people lacked opportunity. Her teachers and family believed in her and sent her to art school and later Japan, where her talent flourished. But while Gyo's career grew and led her to work for Walt Disney Studios, World War II began, and with it, her family's internment. But Gyo never stopped fighting -- for herself, her vision, her family and her readers -- and later wrote and illustrated the first children's book to feature children of different races interacting together.This luminous new book beautifully and openly touches on Gyo's difficult experiences and growth. Through Julie Morstad's exquisite illustrations, alternating between striking black-and-white linework and lush colour, and Kyo Maclear's artful and accessible writing, the story of this cherished figure is told at last.

The Secret Subway


Shana Corey - 2016
    New York City in the 1860s was a mess: crowded, disgusting, filled with garbage. You see, way back in 1860, there were no subways, just cobblestone streets. That is, until Alfred Ely Beach had the idea for a fan-powered train that would travel underground. On February 26, 1870, after fifty-eight days of drilling and painting and plastering, Beach unveiled his masterpiece—and throngs of visitors took turns swooshing down the track. The Secret Subway will wow readers, just as Beach’s underground train wowed riders over a century ago.

Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston


Alicia D. Williams - 2021
    Now, her mama always told her that if she wanted something, “to jump at de sun”, because even though you might not land quite that high, at least you’d get off the ground. So Zora jumped from place to place, from the porch of the general store where she listened to folktales, to Howard University, to Harlem. And everywhere she jumped, she shined sunlight on the tales most people hadn’t been bothered to listen to until Zora. The tales no one had written down until Zora. Tales on a whole culture of literature overlooked…until Zora. Until Zora jumped.

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci


Joseph D'Agnese - 2010
    He was such a daydreamer that people called him a blockhead.When Leonardo grew up and traveled the world, he was inspired by the numbers used in different countries. Then he realized that many things in nature, from the number of petals on a flower to the spiral of a nautilus shell, seem to follow a certain pattern. The boy who was once teased for being a blockhead had discovered what came to be known as the Fibonacci Sequence!

When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. Rex


Toni Buzzeo - 2019
    Her endless curiosity eventually led to her career in diving and paleontology, where she would continue to find things big and small. In 1990, at a dig in South Dakota, Sue made her biggest discovery to date: Sue the T. rex, the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton ever unearthed. Named in Sue’s honor, Sue the T. rex would be placed on permanent exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. When Sue Found Sue inspires readers to take a closer look at the world around them and to never lose their brave, adventurous spirits.

The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune


P.J. Lynch - 2015
    Lynch brings a Mayflower voyager’s story to vivid life.At a young age, John Howland learned what it meant to take advantage of an opportunity. Leaving the docks of London on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Pilgrim John Carver, John Howland little knew that he was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.By his great good fortune, John survived falling overboard on the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, and he earned his keep ashore by helping to scout a safe harbor and landing site for his bedraggled and ill shipmates. Would his luck continue to hold amid the dangers and adversity of the Pilgrims’ lives in New England?John Howland’s tale is masterfully told in his own voice, bringing an immediacy and young perspective to the oft-told Pilgrims’ story, P.J. Lynch captures this pivotal moment in American history in precise and exquisite detail, from the light on the froth of a breaking wave to the questioning voice of a teen in a new world.

A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women's Rights


Kate Hannigan - 2018
    Supreme Court. She fought for equality for women in the classroom, in the courtroom, and in politics. In her quest for fairness and parity, Lockwood ran for President of the United States, becoming the first woman on the ballot. In this riveting nonfiction picture book biography, award-winning author Kate Hannigan and celebrated artist Alison Jay illuminate the life of Lockwood, a woman who was never afraid to take the floor and speak her mind.

Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet


Curtis Manley - 2019
    An attractive and informative volume for young stargazers.” —Kirkus Reviews“Manley’s writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions … and more lyrical observations: “All stars twinkle, but some stars also seem to wink at us... as if saying, ‘I know a secret.’ ” … Richly informative prose and intimate yet expansive art show a child’s contagious enthusiasm for the book’s subject. Includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading.” —Publishers WeeklyDo you wonder if humansare the only beingswho wonderif they are alone in the universe?Our sun is a star.In the night sky are all kinds of stars, and orbiting those starsare planets like the ones in our own solar system.Could those planets have lifelike we do on Earth?Planet Earth is not too big, not too small, not too hot, and not too cold. It's just right.Our very own Goldilocks planet . . . .Follow a young girlas she explores these questionsin this gorgeous book about the wondrous searchfor another Goldilocks planet.

Dare the Wind: The Record-breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud


Tracey E. Fern - 2014
    When her husband was given command of a clipper ship custom-made to travel quickly, she knew that they would need every bit of its speed for their maiden voyage: out of New York City, down around the tip of Cape Horn, and into San Francisco, where the Gold Rush was well under way. In a time when few women even accompanied their husbands onboard, Ellen Prentiss navigated their ship to set the world record for speed along that route. A Margaret Ferguson Book

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark


Debbie Levy - 2016
    This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.

Hello, Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers


Matthew Cordell - 2020
    It introduced art, professions, food and even highlighted difficult subjects, like losing a loved one and divorce. This information was delivered both by live performers, like Fred Rogers himself and through a lively cast of puppets who lived in the land of make believe.Backmatter includes a short biography of Fred Rogers as well as exclusively published archival photos provided by Fred Rogers Productions, and an essay from the author.Available shortly after the release of the Mister Rogers' biopic, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks, this is the perfect picture book for all who appreciate the power and beauty of Fred's mission.Thoroughly illustrated with lively and captivating drawings, by Caldecott-winning author and illustrator Matthew Cordell, Hello, Neighbor! captures the spirit of the beloved television show.A Junior Library Guild Selection!

Beatrix Potter, Scientist


Lindsay H. Metcalf - 2020
    For a decade before Beatrix released The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she became enchanted with fungi after encountering them on holiday in Scotland. She studied them obsessively, at first to draw them accurately, and later for the sake of inquiry. Her period as an amateur mycologist culminated with her submission of a paper to the Linnean Society of London, which asked her to revise, but did not let her attend because she was a woman. This is a STEAM-focused title and lyrical examination of how art interacts with science, the role of women in Victorian British society, and resiliency and reinvention in the face of rejection.

Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile


Sharlee Glenn - 2018
    As librarian at the Washington County Free Library in Maryland, Titcomb was concerned that the library was not reaching all the people it could. She was determined that everyone should have access to the library—not just adults and those who lived in town. Realizing its limitations and inability to reach the county’s 25,000 rural residents, including farmers and their families, Titcomb set about to change the library system forever with the introduction of book-deposit stations throughout the country, a children’s room in the library, and her most revolutionary idea of all—a horse-drawn Book Wagon. Soon book wagons were appearing in other parts of the country, and by 1922, the book wagon idea had received widespread support. The bookmobile was born!

The Boy Whose Head Was Filled With Stars: A Story About Edwin Hubble


Isabelle Marinov - 2021
    Using the insights of great mathematicians and endlessly observing the sky, he succeeded in confirming two things that altered human life forever: that there are more galaxies than our own, and that the universe is always expanding. Hubble’s message to us is to find peace in the vastness of the mystery surrounding us, and to be curious. “We do now know why we are born into the world,” he said, “but we can try to find out what sort of world it is.”