Books for Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month! We have had a very busy month, but we have been enjoying some books for Women's History Month (and still have quite a few to read). I thought I would share them with you today. All of these books we took out from our local library. First I will share two fictional picture books that lend to Women's History Month.

A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream by Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper tells the tale of how one young ballerina is inspired by Janet Collins, the first African American prima ballerina.

My Name Is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry is a wonderful story of a young girl who decides throughout a day that she is not a little girl but many different historical women. At the end of the book there is a bit about each woman Isabella pretends to be. The women are Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell and Mommy.

Now Hazel loves learning about history and nature. She enjoys most nonfiction picture books, so I looked for some in the biography section for her. We started with a book on Georgia O'Keeffe. This opened her eyes to the world of art. She wanted to learn more, so expect to see some artist posts soon.

Even thought we had read some books about Rosa Parks for Black History Month, we read another one for Women's History Month. We read A Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David A. Adler.

For Georgia O'Keeffe we started with Georgia in Hawaii by Amy Novesky. I thought this might continue our Hawaii series. It drew Hazel into the world of art and paintings in particular. She wanted to learn more about Georgia, so I went the biography section and found a book I thought she would be able to follow and understand. It is Georgia O'Keeffe by Linda Lowery.

Now Hazel was inspired by these books, so while at her grandmother's she wanted to do some paintings of every day things just like Georgia. Here are a few she came home with.

Nonni's Chandelier

Nonni's Potted Tree

Hazel eating baked apple (the grey is a spoon)

I Dreamed I was a Ballerina by Anna Pavlov is a wonderful book with pictures of Edgar Degas's paintings. It tells the story of Anna Pavlov going to see her first ballet and how it inspired her to become a ballerina. It seemed a perfect book for Women's History Month and to explore paintings more.

I am Amelia Earhart by Brad Meltzer is on our list to read still.

I recently read something mentioning Eleanor Roosevelt and thought she would be a wonderful person to introduce Hazel for Women's History Month. I got two books out of the library on her, but we have not read either one yet. Eleanor by Barbara Cooney is about her childhood. Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World by the editors of Time for Kids is the second book.

Our next book is My Name Is Gabriela by Monica Brown. Gabriela Mistral is the first Nobel Prize winning Latina woman. 

Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark by Johanna Hurwitz is our next book. I saw this one recommended elsewhere for teaching girls about strong women.

Julia Morgan Built a Castle by Cleste Davidson Mannis is a book about Julia Morgan, California's first licensed female architect.

Marie Curie by Leonard Everett Fisher is a book about the very famous scientist, Marie Curie. She did many firsts for women and coined the term radioactivity.

Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Marry Anning by Laurence Anholt is a book about Mary Anning who at age twelve discovered the bones of a giant ichthyosaur which began her career as the well known fossil hunter. 

Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor is the story of the life of Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson wrote the book, Silent Spring, in which she told the world the dangerous effects of chemicals in natural surroundings and how they could pollute our world.  Her book was an important catalyst in bringing about legislative changes to the use of chemicals on the environment.
Our final woman to look at this year is Mary of Nazareth or the Virgin Mary. Partly because of my fascination with her I am including her and I wanted Hazel to see women from all times and all over the world and the important roles they have played in our world. I found two books on her. The first is Mary by Brian Wildsmith and the second is Young Mary of Nazareth by Marianna Mayer.

What are you doing for Women's History Month?