Yes, I'll admit it. I often insist that theme months often cut both ways, calling much-needed attention to underrepresented individuals but also tempting classrooms and libraries to "feature" the theme for only one month of the year. When the other eleven months return to tried and true dominate-culture titles or other topics, it's a fierce endorsement of "othering" anyone who is NOT of the dominant culture and identity. I've made no secret of those concerns, HERE, HERE, HERE, and more. Yet here I am, celebrating a series of nonfiction titles that deserve that year-round attention. No better time to start than NOW!
What's not to like about washing dishes... if a safe and reliable machine can do it for you? Back in 1891, no such machines were available for sale... yet. But when Josephine Garis Cochrane invented, refined, patented, and manufactured just such a machine for home use, one local paper shouted her praises. She was praised for setting women free from\
Calkins Creek, 2023
Imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers
"...the most slavish and disgusting task of housekeeping!"
To learn more, read JOSEPHINE and Her DISHWASHING MACHINE: Josephine Cochrane's Bright Invention Makes a Big Splash, written by Kate Hannigan and illustrated by Sarah Green.
Josephine lived with enough means to have domestic help, yet the process of washing dishes, especially after a crowd, left her precious dishware dinged and chipped. Not one to complain without taking action, she plunged in to wash them herself, only to discover how much precious TIME was wasted in this process. As a modern woman (in post-Civil War 1800's) she was aware of many new inventions, some even created by women inventors. With a family heritage of inventors, Josephine was driven to create a machine that could safely and thoroughly wash and rinse her dishes without damaging them.
She not only imagined, sketched, and revised, she got to work with tools and her own two hands to bring her ideas into the world. This book credits the man, George Butters, who worked on these attempts with her (something rarely done by male inventors when assistants were women). It also indicates the near-disastrous impact of her husband's early death and ensuing debts.But Josephine was as determined as she was modern, which this book depicts with colorful and appealing illustrations that reveal much about the time, circumstances, and processes that led her to eventual successes. Efficient and compelling text throughout make Josephine's personality and accomplishments shine as brightly has her newly washed dishes. The expanded content in back matter provide excellent additional resources.
Calkins Creek, 2023
Imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers
THE BRILLIANT CALCULATOR: How Mathematician EDITH CLARKE Helped Electrify America. Written by Jan Lower and illustrated by Susan Reagan.
Josephine and Edith had much in common, particularly their vision for what was needed and how they might provide answers. There were differences, too. Working on a decidedly non-domestic problem, Edith Clarke (also with an /e/ to end her surname), excelled at academic tasks, puzzle-solving, and dreaming of building railroads, bridges, and dams. She was sent to boarding school to learn manners and grace, but dismissed that frustratingly unchallenging curriculum during the same era as Josephine was inventing- the turn of the twentieth century. Potential career paths in engineering of any kind led Edith to closed and locked doors, but she used her inheritance to hire private tutors in languages, math, science, and to study the emerging wave of technology. Employed to manage mundane tasks within the burgeoning telephone industry, Edith became aware of operational weaknesses and evaluated ways to address those. That involved complex analytical computations; ones she was able to complete but few others could. Instead, she devised and carefully constructed a simple rotating, two-armed cardboard tool that would allow others to determine precise and necessary answers to a myriad of equations. A calculator!
In the field of electrical engineering, Edith Clarke is a less familiar name than most, but she stands as equal to Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and Morgan in the measure of the contributions she made through her work. Back matter includes a detailed timeline and some archival photos, as well as brief notes about other notable women in math and engineering.
So, as March begins, I share these two notable women I celebrate their accomplishments and the creators who provided us with accounts of their lives in these outstanding books. Please share them widely and often- long after the calendar page turns to a new month!
I received copies of these books form the publisher with no promise of a review of any kind.
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