A Woman Who Persisted: SAVING LIVES, Changing the World

 March is winding down, and with it the designation of WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH. But that doesn't mean that learning about outstanding women in history disappears when the calendar page turns. Quite the opposite. Some notable accomplishments by women are tied to specific events, such as the remarkable trip around the world via bicycle as described in PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: Annie Londonderry, First Woman to Cycle Around the World, written by VIVIAN KIRKFIELD, and illustrated by Alison Jay, reviewed HERE. Women like Annie inspire us over decades and centuries, not just in a designated month. Some other women's accomplishments moved a field of study forward, as did the many WOMEN OF STEM profiled in books by Laurie Walmart, and featured HERE. Again, such stories cannot (and should not) be confiined to a single month each year.

Albert Whitman & Company, 2024

Some women, particularly one Chinese physician/scientist, have worked behind the scenes to find answers to deadly medical questions and develop medicines that can and DO and WILL continue to save lives from deadly diseases. TU YOUYOU'S DISCOVERY: FINDING A CURE FOR MALARIA, written by Sonju Ma Daemicke and illustrated by Lin. This biographic profile reveals Tu Youyou's life as a child in China, attending school with her brothers despite the custom that girls were not educated. A serious illness eventually kept her home, gradually recovering though a combination of Western medicine and her mother's traditional Chinese herbal broths and treatments. 

Tu was motivated by such care and recovery to pursue training in Western medicine, but she never lost her respect for Chinese herbal and nature-based treatments. The deadly disease, malaria, is easily spread throughout the world (especially tropical areas) through mosquito bites. The fevers and other related symptoms defied cure or even effective relief treatments through traditional Western medicines or procedures, so Tu set out to investigate potential solutions in Chinese traditional treatments. 

Relying on deep research into centuries of Chinese medicinals, then following the scientific method, she led a team of male doctors in studies attempting to use one particular plant-sourced treatment. Throughout the studies they observed, recorded, compared, and analyzed responses of malarial microscopic life to various preparations using the chemicals from this plant (and others). When their results were unsuccessful, after more than a hundred attempts, male members of her team grumbled that Tu was unfit to lead, was being a foolish woman. She did not give up, researching and adjusting her preparations until she eventually identified the correct method to prepare the plant material to stop Malaria in its tracks. When their report was published, Tu insisted on listing the entire team as authors, so her central and driving role in this global scientific  accomplishment was overlooked for many years. After more years of testing and development, and growing awareness of her role, she became the first ever Chinese person (male or female) to be awarded the Nobel Prize. 

I won't apologize for sharing so much content as a "spoiler".  This is a woman whose accomplishments and dedicated life are facts we should ALL  know. I didn't, did you? Consider reading this excellent new picture book, including the back matter with timeline, bibliography, a brief author note, and an excellent (usable) description of the scientific process as used by Tu throughout her career. Then make an effort to talk about her with your friends (yes, adult friends!) and share her story through this book with young people, their teachers, and librarians.

Shirley Chisholm Dared: A Biography Worth the Wait

  Recent years have seen shifts on publishing for children, including picture books. There has been a steady (though not yet strong enough) shift to stories of people from non-dominant American culture (AKA, White, mainstream, traditional). Among those, many are shining lights on powerful but rarely told stories. They are both overdue and appreciated. Some, though, are offering accessible and inspiring profiles of folks who were quite prominent during their lives, although their stories seldom landed in picture books. Too often, the reasons given for that suggested that the "market" for the stories was too narrow and sales would be minimal.

Baloney!

Anne Schwartz Books, 2021

Many outstanding leaders from the past are getting new coverage. Better late than never, I say. 

In this case, this picture book biography of Shirley Chisholm is seriously overdue, but the eventual product is well worth the wait. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM DARED: The Story of the First Black Congresswoman is written by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by April Harrison. This is not the first picture book about Chisholm, but it is delightfully  personal and powerful and  kid-friendly. 

Opening in her brief early days in New York City, we quickly follow little Shirely to an extended stay with her maternal grandmother in Barbados. The recurring  descriptors Williams uses become evident immediately:

Daring. Rebellious. Persistent. Troublemaker.

That should catch your attention, right? The selected examples of these traits, in text and images, allow readers to smile along, sit a bit taller, and develop their admiration for this  little-girl-eventual-congresswoman.She saw herself as having a voice and a place and a role in her community and in the world at large. The sideways glances to outright objections of others made no difference to her. It's not surprising (and is very well presented on the page) that her youthful peers, authority figures, adult peers, and competitors for office were sometimes stunned by her intentions and actions and expressed that opinion openly. 

I can't help but imagine her thinking that the surest way to get her to accomplish something was to tell her she shouldn't. Or couldn't.

Shirley was a champion for justice, using her voice and platform on behalf of everyday people and the country she loved. Her voice still rings in my memory. If it is unknown to you, click this YOU TUBE link to learn more about her story, and hear that amazing voice. It is an eighteen minute segment, but if you don't have enough time, scroll through to find her speaking. In fact, I hope you will watch it all. 

This is a very welcome picture book biography that will continue to share her legacy with young readers long into the future.

Women (and Girls) and Glass Ceilings: Part One

"Kids are curious about the world around them and nonfiction is the perfect way to introduce them to that amazing world. History? Biography? Art? Science? Math? Animals? Sports? It's all here and more besides!" 

(From the Cybils Awards description of Elementary and Juvenile nonfiction)

After more than a month of reading, relishing, and examining Cybils nominated titles, I've moved along to the sorting and comparing stage. With such a variety of topics and types to consider, I've been grouping into related stacks of outstanding books: quirky animal books, straightforward animal books, inventors/inventions, history... you get the drift.

My eyes locked onto the perfect stack of books for this post, for this week. Each presented a young girl who had defied expectations of her place, time, or gender to pursue her dreams.  

Until recently, one of my most frequently-viewed posts ran in the early days after I launched this blog. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT FEBRUARY was the first of many references I've made over the years to the dual-edged sword of theme months. My concern has always been that flooding a specific month with attention and featuring books on a particular theme (Black History, Women's History, Hispanic Heritage, even Poetry) is dangerous. That goes beyond the obvious message that such narrowed awareness and exploration isn't "real" learning, that each only merits one-twelfth the attention of all our "more important" studies. Too often this approach also results in unpacking a "theme" collection of books for use, then packing them away again until the next year.

I'll climb down from my soapbox and urge anyone who cares to read more of my eloquent arguments on this thesis in the original post, here.

Assigning such a secondary significance means that the history-making stories of half the population of the world get about 8.5% of the annual educational focus. "HER-story" is stuffed into the month of March then buried under another box of books for a year. That's why November (and every other month of the year) offers a perfect opportunity to celebrate young females who faced challenges and barriers without flinching.

Let's start with THE FIRST STEP: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial. Written by Susan E. Goodman and illustrated by E. B. Lewis, the story of equal-education-seeking young Sarah Roberts couldn't be in better hands. Many young readers have come to know Ruby Bridges and her solitary studies during the civil rights school integration enforcement in the 1960's. The little-known case of Sarah Roberts, though, set the groundwork for establishing desegregation through the courts those many years later.

Back in 1847, four-year-old Sarah was escorted out of her all-white classroom by a police officer. This launches the heartbreaking story of her family's legal, political, and social battle to gain equal educational opportunities for Sarah and all children of color.
Despite set-backs and disappointments, in 1855, before the Civil War, Boston became the fist major American city to integrate its schools. That was more than a hundred years before the BROWN vs. The BOARD of EDUCATION case that finally established "separate is NOT equal". As Goodman says midway through Sarah's process, 

"Every big change has to start somewhere".

The back matter in this picture book is particularly well-suited to close reading and discussion. As she often does, author Goodman doesn't shy away from significant truths. (After all, she's the author of The Truth About Poop and Pee.) In this case she addresses her remarks to young readers, discussing reliable research sources, making decisions about depicting "cloudy" aspects of history, and using modern language within historical context (when the words used for people of color at the time were insulting and demeaning). She provides a timeline of desegregation landmark events with a challenge to readers to decide for themselves which ones are steps forward and which were set-backs.

Stay tuned in coming days for reviews of other outstanding books in which young girls are depicted rocking the boat, making waves, rattling at doors, pushing envelopes, and otherwise cracking, sometimes breaking, those glass ceilings.

And don't you dare put those books in a box and save them for March.

Sharing Titles About Women in Canada's History!

Last week a comment by Jen included a lament that she was struggling to find books about women in the history of Canada and Japan.

I'm back today to pass along some titles, thanks to help that reached me through the Twitter- & Blog-o-spheres. (Until someone informs me of the "proper" names for these social networks, I'll keep using whatever works.)

Rather than send this out to only Jen, I thought I'd Jen-erate this short post with some links to the titles. I was amazed that so few turned up, which means that some others of you may also have felt frustration in your searches. And, of course, I love discovering new books for myself and sharing resources as well.

Thanks to Monica Kulling, a Canadian author who writes about American history, these books are first up:

This is from a series that appears to be similar to our more familiar Magic Treehouse series: an adventurous girl and boy travel back into time in Canada's history. This specific title, Make It Fair, relates to women's rights, if my inferencing skills are holding up.

Next up is collection of 25 stories about dogs featuring a beloved Canadian author/artist: EMILY CARR AND HER DOGS- FLIRT, PUNK, AND LOO. Written and illustrated by Emily Carr, a book with dog stories and wonderful pictures has great appeal for all ages and purposes.

Speaking of the appeal of quality art, I'm on a mission now to learn more about our Canadian neighbor, Emily Carr. FOUR PICTURES BY EMILY CARR, By Nicolas Debon makes a great place to start. I'm a huge fan of Georgia O'Keeffe's art and can't wait to learn more about the life and works of anyone who merits comparison to her.



While I'm thanking Monica for these links, I'll add the titles she offered for adult references:

Extraordinary Canadians: Nellie McClung by Charlotte Gray

Extraordinary Canadians: Lucy Maud Montgomery by Jane Urquhart

Extraordinary Canadians: Emily Carr: A Penguin Lives Biography by Lewis De Soto

Finally, a shout out to another virtual friend, Allison, on Twitter. (@Alli_librarian if you want to follow!) She reminded me of the timeless classic, SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, by Eleanor Coerr, illustrated by Ronald Himler (who also illustrated several of the titles in Monday's post about unsung women in history).

So, *virtual hugs* to Monica and Allison. Jen, I hope you found something here that helps. Once again, I rely on the kindness of strangers and hope to be able to pay it forward soon. If anyone knows of other titles to share, chime in!