When Wanda was growing up in Puerto Rico’s rainforest, she couldn’t see the stars because of all the trees. She first truly saw the stars on a family fishing trip and she was entirely amazed by them. Wanda was a child who didn’t like school all that much and certainly didn’t like the shots she had to take for her diabetes. Eventually, she found out what she liked at school and decided to study physics in college. But at college, she started losing her eyesight due to her diabetes and eventually became blind. How could a blind person study the stars? Happily, she had friends around her to encourage her and one friend who was using sounds to study the stars. Now Wanda could listen to the stars and hear them. Wanda moved to the United States and continued to study the stars, making discoveries that only someone listening to the noises could have found.
An amazing story of overcoming a disability in a field where it seemed impossible to go on, this nonfiction picture book shows Wanda’s perseverance, skill and also her willingness to accept help in order to find her way forward. The story itself is wonderfully written for young readers and the ending where the star noises are shared on the page is amazing in an entirely additional way. The illustrations are friendly and invite readers to engage with the material.
A fascinating and inspiring true story. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
Deanne loved spending time in nature with her family as a young child. It was a love that continued throughout her life. When wildfires started spreading in California, Deanne applied for a job with the U.S. Forest Service. She was hired by them to fight fires. She had found exactly what she loved. It was a physical job with long hours and risks. But Deanne wanted to do more: she wanted to become a smokejumper. So, at age 26, she started taking the required physical tests. She passed them, but was found to be too small for their requirements. Deanne fought the decision, filing a formal complaint. Months later, she was allowed to take the tests and soon passed them to become the first female smokejumper in the nation.
Deanne is the epitome of resilience and determination. The book focuses on her willingness to take risks but also on her level-headed approach to gaining new skills as she pushes the envelope of society’s biases toward women. The writing here is approachable and evocative. It shares how Deanne was feeling as she hit each obstacle and overcame them. The illustrations are full of flame colors, smoke and fire. It brings the dangers and the drama directly to the reader.
Bravery, resilience and character are all on display in this great picture book biography. Appropriate for ages 4-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Young Readers.
The Black Mambas are an anti-poaching unit that works in South Africa on the Olifants West Nature Reserve. The unit was started when animals in the reserve began to disappear, particularly rhinos and pangolins. The unit is the first all-women anti-poaching unit in the world and despite doubts from family members became very successful. The book explores how the unit was created, what sorts of training they go through, and what they do on a daily basis to protect the wildlife in the reserve. One particularly dramatic series of images shows the women tracking poachers and successfully stopping them. Told via photographs, the book celebrates the impact these women have had on their community and the success of the reserve.
A stirring tale of women successfully stepping out of traditional roles. Appropriate for ages 5-10.
Marjorie Rice grew up loving shapes, enchanted by the golden rectangle. She studied art and geometry, but her parents wanted her to be a secretary. Meanwhile, others were discovering five-sided shapes that could fit together, creating a seamless pattern. They each declared they had found them all. Majorie was raising children, doing art, helping with math, and discovered the question of five-sided shapes in her son’s Scientific American magazine. Marjorie started to work on the problem, despite it being declared as solved. Her first discovery was declared the tenth tiling pentagon, but she wasn’t done yet!
This picture book tells the story of an amateur mathematician who discovered tiling shapes that others couldn’t. These were questions from the beginning of math and design, solved by a mother of five working out of her home. It is an inspiring story of resilience, tenacity and patience. The illustrations in the book invite readers to look at five-sided shapes themselves, seeing them elongate and shrink and they fit together.
It’s a book that makes mathematics something tangible and beautiful. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Ruth Asawa was raised on her family’s vegetable farm in California. She attended Japanese school on Saturdays and won an award in her regular school for a poster she made of the Statue of Liberty. Her life was divided in half, but soon that was to become even more clear. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, her father was taken away. Two months later the rest of the family entered imprisonment. Ruth started to draw her life in the camps. At age 20 after the end of the war, she started to create the wire sculptures that she would become known for. Eventually she was asked to create the memorial for those imprisoned in the Japanese internment camps.
Told in poetic language that uses the image of lines repeatedly, this nonfiction picture book pays a deep and respectful homage to this Japanese-American artist. Asawa rises again and again, despite the racism that impacted her childhood and teen years. The use of art to create conversation and connection is clear in this book. The illustrations are done in charcoal, watercolor and digital media. They capture the lines, the wire, the connectivity and the inhuman conditions of the camps.
A book that celebrates survival and the way art can carry a spirit through its darkest days. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Roaring Brook Press.
This nonfiction picture book explains to children that LGBTQIA people used to not be able to share openly about their sexuality. Instead, they used a code and asked one another if they were a friend of Dorothy. The book explores why it was unsafe to share sexuality openly with people losing their jobs, being arrested or placed in mental institutions. Then there are the people who hear the code who are working for the government. But they could never figure out who this mysterious Dorothy was. There are some ideas about why the name Dorothy was chosen. The ending returns to the present day and all the progress that has been made for LGBTQIA rights with the caveat about the continued dangers and threats to those who come out.
Lukoff tells the history of LGBTQ rights in America using a child-focused approach by focusing on the code phrase. It’s a clever way to share the information of past injustice, modern progress and all the way yet to go. Illustrations by Hastings are colorful at times and other times capture the bleakness of government surveillance.
All young friends of Dorothy will find a welcoming place in these pages. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from a copy provided by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Part of the First Conversations series, this nonfiction picture book tackles speaking to young children about disabilities with a straight-forward approach. The book begins by explaining that everyone looks different from one another and that it is not what we can physically do that makes us matter. The book moves on to respecting how people describe themselves. It talks about access and ableism, defining both clearly and offering deeper explanations about disability justice and its importance.
It is powerful to find a picture book that offers information that is so informative and impactful. This book goes beyond the superficial nods at disability and truly looks at the damage of ableism and offers resources on what people can do to change access. There is no talking down to children here, just a frank, clear approach to the subject that centers each person with a disability as their own expert and voice.
Get this one into your library collections. Appropriate for ages 3-7.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Workshop.
Lynn grew up going to Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains every summer. She swam in the water, climbed trees, and walked in the forests. For a few weeks every summer, the fireflies put on a light-filled display in the evening. The entire family would gather to watch the fireflies flash in sync then go dark, then light up in sync once more. When Lynn tried to research fireflies as she grew up, she couldn’t find much information. Then when she read an article, she found that scientists thought that the only fireflies that flashed in sync were in Southeast Asia. Lynn knew that they were wrong. Now she just had to convince one scientist to take her seriously.
This story of a self-taught naturalist and scientist shows that paying close attention to nature can create new discoveries. The book focuses on Lynn’s childhood and her growing interest in getting others to see what she has found. Throughout the text and the illustrations, there is a sense of joy in nature, of play and discovery along the way. The illustrations are done in watercolor and digital media. The watercolors are allowed to bleed together to create the backgrounds against which nature dazzles.
A beautiful look at discovery in nature. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Children is Europe following World War II were going hungry after war decimated their countries. In the US, one man asked how he could help and soon Drew Pearson was thinking big. He dreamed of a Friendship Train that could cross the nation gathering donations from people across the country to send to Europe. Pearson made the suggestion in a national paper and soon he got lots of letters in return. Children wanted to help. Soon the plan grew bigger and bigger, as everyone worked together to make a difference for people they had never met.
An important story of children’s impact as they worked together to help others and the man who created an idea that grew and grew to meet what children accomplished. Just the empowering nonfiction we need about thinking of others, seeing everyone as human and working to make change.
Appropriate for ages 5-10.
Reviewed from copy provided by Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
I. M. Pei, a renowned architect had successfully redesigned part of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. But when the President of France asked him to work on the Louvre, Pei decided to keep the project secret. The Louvre had many issues as a museum with people unable to find the entrance and the long walk to reach the art once they did enter. So Pei set out to create a new way to enter the building. It was unclear what would work, but eventually he designed a glass pyramid. The French people though didn’t love the idea and argued that they should have hired a French architect. Pei stayed the course, doing interviews and calmly explaining his design. Could he win over the French people?
A look at the design process of a gifted architect allows young readers to see the resilience and persistence that design takes. Even when the design was finalized, there were issues with the construction that arose and then the arguments about the design itself. This nonfiction picture book explores process and results, engaging the reader in Pei’s childhood visits to China and what he learned there. The digital illustrations are a filled with crisp edges and renderings that capture Pei’s calm pride in his work. The book provides more information on the building at the end as well as sources and online resources.
A strong nonfiction picture book about one of the top architects in the world and one of his most famous projects. Appropriate for ages 6-10.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
This nonfiction picture book shares the stories of four women from history who worked in lighthouses across the United States. The jobs were a challenging mix of boredom, dedication and danger in tight quarters, often wearing long dresses. Ida Lewis worked a lighthouse in Rhode Island and was known for rescuing people whose boats had capsized. Juliet Nicols in California was challenged by the fog and her resilience and strength alone kept the fog bell sounding. Venus Parker worked in Virginia with her husband. She had to carry on despite terrible ice and her husband’s unexpected death. Julia Toomey worked in Hawaiian lighthouses with her parents. When her father died saving the lighthouse, Julia had to manage to carry on.
These stories of women and girls facing impossible tasks to save strangers from wrecking their ships and boats on the rocks capture the fraught nature of working in a lighthouse. The stories capsize the image of lighthouses as peaceful icons and instead show the risky work close up. They also ruin the tales that are often told of men having these sorts of roles rather than women. The illustrations are friendly and approachable, filled with curving stairs and beautiful lighthouses until the pages turn dark with storms and the dramatic moments happen.
A glorious look at women facing danger head on with skill and resilience. Appropriate for ages 7-10.
Two Peruvian-Americans come together to create a warm and delightful picture book biography of Alberto Salas, a Peruvian scientist who dedicated his life to potatoes. Searching for wild potatoes through the Peruvian landscape is a treat with that landscape depicted by a Caldecott-honoree illustrator. From the hilly land to Salas’ notes to finding the spark of a potato in the mud to the potatoes themselves, readers will be amazed by the colors on the page.
This book tackles climate change, the need for scientists and the manual labor that it sometimes takes for science to happen and to discover something that can feed a changing world. Enjoy this game of hide-and-seek!
Waking Brain Cells 