What can I say about a book that is so lyrical, so beautifully (and classically) illustrated, and holds up to read after read after read that there is nothing left to say? Well, I do have more to say: This is a story about Ruth Krauss, a child who always finds a way to be … Continue reading A Story Is to Share – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Attention musicians! Well, really anyone who wants to be inspired by a woman who created "her own story," who didn't "wait for things to happen" to her, who "made her own opportunities." Text ©Shannon Stocker Illustration ©Devon Holzwarth Here is Evelyn, enjoying life on her family's farm in Aberdeen, Scotland. This image took me back … Continue reading Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion – Perfect Picture Book Friday
In my early teens, ©️I learned to play The Entertainer, loving its rhythm and the feeling that my hands were somehow accomplishing great feats while I enjoyed the song (after many hours of brainwork and practice that it took to keep my left hand hitting the backbone notes while my right hand capered off to … Continue reading King of Ragtime – Perfect Picture Book Friday
A few months ago I reviewed a picture book about Edwin Hubble, The Boy Whose Head Was Filled with Stars. In that book, the author mentioned Vera Rubin, the woman who was interested in studying questions in astronomy that others (yes, mostly men) didn't bother with. And voilá, now we have her biography! Vera Rubin … Continue reading The Stuff Between the Stars – Perfect Picture Book Friday
I didn't know much about Zora Neale Hurston, except for the fact that I'd loved one of her most famous books, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Now that I've read this picture book, I want to know more. Text ©️Alicia D. Williams Illustration ©️Jacqueline Alcántara Just look at that girl, clutching her book, running barefoot … Continue reading Jump At the Sun – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Connect. Moved. Dreamed. Speak. Loved. Graduated. Organize. Improve. Honor. Listen. Campaigned. Represent. Traveled. Voted. Oversee. Create. Earned. Helped. Challenge. Announced. Convince. Do. Protested. Gained. Planted. Ascend. Inspired. Pave. Awarded. What do all these words have in common? They're all verbs used to tell Shirley Chisholm's story. And in doing so, they bring her energy to … Continue reading Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb! – Perfect Picture Book Friday
To Emma Lilian Todd, problems were likegusts of wind: they set her mind soaring. This lyrical sentence introduces us to a girl aswirl with ideas, curiosity, and a tinkering spirit. Just HOW do things work? Lilian figures things out. But what can a girl in the late 1800s do, if the world isn't quite ready … Continue reading Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane
Looking for a fun read? One written and illustrated by the legendary pair, Linda Sue Park and Debbie Ridpath Ohi? Here you go: Oh, no! A spaceship filled with crayons and two robots has crash-landed on a barren planet! What's a robot to do? Well, if you're Gurple, you panic. "Preen? Preen, where are you?" … Continue reading Gurple and Preen – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
When you can't sleep at night, do you lie awake in the dark, wondering what kind of equation would describe the rotation of a wobbling top? If your answer is yes, you're in good company. Meet Sophie Kowalevski, a Russian mathematician born in 1850, who spent years pondering this question. But because she was a … Continue reading Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics #PPBF
Oh, it's good to be back, albeit a bit under the weather. But nasty cold aside, I'd like to share a recent library find. How could I resist those eyes? That topknot? Are you looking for something "fresh?" A book about cats, sumo wrestling, and never giving up just might qualify. Seriously. Let's start with … Continue reading SumoKitty – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Jilanne Hoffmann 