Something Special for the Holidays

 Something Special for the Holidays

Book: Lights for Gita, a Diwali Story by Rachna Gilmore (told a shorter version of the story & showed the pictures) 

Book/Song: This Little Light of Mine by E. B. Lewis

Book: Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules  (more Thanksgiving book ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving

Towel Folding Story: The Case of the Missing Turkey -- Rhonda Turley   Piedmont, OK via PUBYAC. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4eojAsNlY  (or search youtube for towel and chicken).
Other Thanksgiving ideas and songs can be found here: Pre-School Storytime/Craft: Thanksgiving

"Last year, I was in charge of cooking the family thanksgiving turkey.I set my alarm for early in the morning so I could pop it in the oven to cook for our family dinner.

When the alarm went off, I got up, put on my fuzzy slippers and shuffled out to the kitchen to get the bird.  I opened the fridge, and…IT WAS GONE!
Where could it be!? (this is where the towel folding starts…lay the towel out flat)
I looked everywhere!
I rolled up the living room rug (roll one end of the towel to center)…it wasn’t under there.
I pulled down the covers on my bed (roll other end to the center)…it wasn’t there.
I turned over the couch cushion  (Flip rolled towel over so rolled ends are underneath)…it wasn’t there.
I looked under the chair (fold towel in half end to end, and hold upright like a bouquet of flowers)…it wasn’t there.
I looked in the flower vase (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)
I looked in the umbrella stand (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)…it wasn’t there.
I even looked in the trash can  (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)...thankfully it wasn't there!
Finally, I looked in the cookie jar  (pull up last corner of the towel)
(here’s the finale…grasp two corners with one hand, the other two corners with the other hand, and pull them apart…resulting in what looks like a plucked bird.)
…And there it was!"

Images: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Towel-Chicken

Action: Turkey Trot

Optional Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven (words: Jack Prelutsky, chorus: Cathy Darby)
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” Check it out on Youtube, subtitled in Chinese! 

The turkey shot out of the oven
And rocketed into the air,
It knocked every plate off the table
And partly demolished a chair.
Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?
It ricocheted into a corner,
And burst with a deafening boom,
Then splattered all over the kitchen,
Completely obscuring the room. Chorus
It stuck to the walls and the windows,
It totally coated the floor,
There was turkey attached to the ceiling
Where there'd never been turkey before. Chorus
It blanketed every appliance,
It smeared every saucer and bowl,
There wasn't a way I could stop it,
That turkey was out of control. Chorus
I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
And thought with chagrin as I mopped,
That I'd never again stuff a turkey
With popcorn that hadn't been popped!

Optional Prop/Song: I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie – based on the book by Alison Jackson (great song for helping kids work on their memory skills – try to have them remember the different foods in the countdown; can also use rhyming reminders (phonemic awareness) as clues.) (We use a cardboard old lady with a plastic see-through stomach panel and a cardboard box mounted behind for the food items.) Lyrics and more images: www.4gaslps.com/IKnewAnOldLadyWhoSwallowedAPie.doc

Book: The Borrowed Thanksgiving Latkes by Linda Glaser

Flannel Song: I had a Little Dreidel, I made it out of ...clay, mud, sand, soap, ice, straw, etc! 
Lyrics for this and other songs can be found here:  http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/turkey-latkes-thanksgiving-chanukah.html

Book: Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant

Book/Song: The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton

Activity: Snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson (on album Season’s Greetings)
Making snowballs for the program:
1) Gather a white plastic grocery bag into a long, skinny tube-like length with the handles on one end.
2) Fold the length in half, then in half again.
3) Wind a rubber band around the middle until it is tight.
4) Cut open both ends to remove any folded areas.
5) Then fluff out pieces
Idea courtesy of:  Susan Dailey, librarian, speaker and author of "A Storytime Year"

Bedminster Library - Craft: Make your own wrapping paper - bulletin board paper, markers, stickers, etc. 

More ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Winter%20Holidays

Nov-Dec 2021: Did variations on this program for Somerset Hills Allies in Dunham Park

Bedminster School K&1st grades via Zoom

Bedminster Library in person

Read Across the Ocean -- Virtual Storytime for the Students at Kiwimbi School in Kenya

 

Carol reads EarthDance by Joanne Ryder to the students of Kiwimbi School Kenya. If you want to have a reading that shows close ups of the book, you can find it here.

Possible follow ups:

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer – the true story of a boy from Malawi, who, when a drought threatened his village, used books found in a library to learn to build a windmill from scraps. Read Aloud : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieSIhow18kU

Kids can make their own pinwheels - directions You can meet him "in person" here: Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story 6 min. interview His first TED Talk (2009) William KamKwamba: How I harnessed the wind Updated with TED Talk (2018) (after he studied engineering at Dartmouth University!!) Catching up with inventor William Kamkwamba | William Kamkwamba Interview with Chris Anderson (Also now a full-length Netflix film: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/03/incredible-adventures-boy-who-harnessed.html – has more ideas for this title. Another innovative real-life solution to a problem of lack of power:

The Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that turns into a lamp

More books that celebrate African inventors:

Book: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul tells how plastic bag trash was becoming a terrible problem in a village – even killing the goats – until a clever and enterprising woman and her friends figured out how to take this trash and make it into useful purses that could be sold for income. Reading with music available here Instructions to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r354rs7aYzI Related videos: Young woman is recycling plastic into building bricks: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/recycling-plastic-waste-to-make-bricks-that-are-stronger-than-concrete https://mymodernmet.com/gjenge-makers-recycled-plastic-bricks/

Book: Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of a young child who uses scraps of wire to create his own toy. Reading Rainbow: Galimoto book starts around 2:50.

Book: Masai and I by Virginia Kroll offers a child's perspective comparing the daily lives of a child in a U.S. city and a Maasai child in Kenya. Musical reading

Book: 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift. Reading Author interview: My favorite follow up is Tom Chapin's beautiful song "This Pretty Planet" (with beautiful pictures) or Children doing it as a round with Tom Chapin Many more ideas -- and other books I could read -- are here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/mothers-fathers-of-invention-if-at.html

Here are some of my favorite booklists from "What Do We Do All Day" 

INSPIRING PICTURE BOOKS:

These are picture book lists that will inspire kids to create, dream and spread kindness in their community.

• Books to Inspire Kids to Change the World 
• Books to Teach Kindness
• Books to Inspire Kids to Follow Their Dreams
• Books to Inspire Artistic Creativity
• Books to Inspire Inventors and Engineers
• Picture books about the Theater
• Books Celebrating Screen-Free Life
• Funny Picture Books
• Books about Trying New Things
• Picture Books about Peace
• Growth Mindset Picture Books
• Picture Books about Observation and Perspective
• Nature Picture Books
• Books about New Beginnings

PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT INTEGRITY & EMOTIONS:

• Picture Books that Teach Meaningful Values
• Picture Books to Support Emotional Intelligence
• Picture Books about Mindfulness and Meditation
• Books that Teach Empathy
• Books about Anger, Frustration and General Crankiness
• Books about Fear and Courage
• Picture Books about Perseverance and Determination
• Children’s Books about Happiness
• Picture Books about Lying and Honesty
• Picture Books to Teach Responsible Citizenship
• Picture Books about Friendship
• Picture Books about Communities Coming Together 
  • Picture books about global social justice
  • Picture Books about Refugees
  • 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books for K-1st Grade
  • 30 days of diverse books for 2nd and 3rd grade
  • Picture Books about Diversity and Multiculturalism
  • Read Your Way Around the World: 50 books set in different countries

Create Recycled Musical Instruments (Ages 5-11)

 

1/25/2017  4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

We'll hear the true story Ada's Violin about a group of children in Paraguay who learned to play orchestra instruments made from trash then create our own instruments with recycled materials. Please bring any coffee cans, oatmeal containers, small boxes or any other items that might make fun sounds!

While kids arriving & during crafts, showed Youtube selections of their performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfeixjFB-AM&list=RDMkTQQ0m8Ys8&index=12
More here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTQQ0m8Ys8&list=RDMkTQQ0m8Ys8#t=6
rocking it out! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgeRZ8vDNc&list=RDMkTQQ0m8Ys8&index=10

Read: Ada’s Violin by Susan Hood

Profile of the founders: Nicolas Gomez & Favio Chavez How Things Work by T.J. Resler(National Geographic, 2016), p. 110-111 (instrument detail), instrument ideas p.118-119.

More instrument ideas from Crafty Kids: Music Makers & Toys – Homemade Kazoo p. 7, Box Guitar p. 15. 

Craft tables: Make drums, harmonicas*, shakers, rubber band plucked instruments… (rubber bands, string, scissors, hole punches, corn, cardboard, Makedo tools, markers, waxed paper, masking tape)

harmonicas: www.exploratorium.edu/afterschool/activities/docs/soundsandwich.pdf

Our “recycled orchestra”: L->R Everett, Alyssa, and Chelsea Coffin, “Miss Carol”, Zane & Sabrina Hoffman, Rajasree Mohta, Liam Northrop, Aniya Phillips, Hriday Narang, (on steps: Krishna, Alice Jiang)

School Age Storytime–Let’s Go Ride a Bike!

 

K-3 storytime featuring bicycles – includes text to text connection to a well-known Aesop fable (“The Tortoise & the Hare”), visual storytelling via a wordless book, books on perseverance (earning the money for a bicycle rather than having it given to you), generosity (worldwide bike donation program)  and overcoming disability, as well as some fun songs & flannels.

Stella & Roy by Ashley Roy ---- “Who do you think would be faster big girl on a trike or baby brother on a scooter? – see if this reminds you of another story (text to text connection: The Tortoise and the Hare.)

“This next story (The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett) is also about a girl and her little brother, but it is told entirely in pictures – so you’ll need to use your eyes to figure out what is happening… let’s tell it together…” (Girl helps a neighbor with chores for a whole year to earn enough to buy the bicycle in the window but when she goes to buy it, it is gone! Instead she uses the money she earned to get a tricycle for her brother and then receives the bike she wanted from that neighbor – along with a beautiful hug.)

Sally Jean the Bicycle Queen by Cari Best (Another beautiful story of self-reliance: When Sally Jean outgrows her beloved bicycle, she has to figure out a way to get a larger bike since the family can’t afford to buy one.)

Action song: “Bumping up & down in my little red bicycle…  the front wheel’s off and the axle’s broken ..Sally Jean is gonna fix it with her pliers…bumping… the back wheel’s off… Murray’s gonna fix it with his hammer…bumping…”

The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle by Jude Isabella. (told rather than read because the text was too long for our audience)  “This is another story of a red bicycle…it is the true story of a boy in Canada who earned money to buy a bike.  Later he got too tall to ride it, but instead of giving it to a sister or brother, he donated it to an organization that sends bikes to places around the world where they are needed. His bike went along with 4000+ others on a truck, then a ship, then another truck all the way to Africa…where a girl got it so she could go to school since it was too far to walk, then it became a bicycle ambulance so a nurse could take sick and injured people to hospitals”…. showed pix in the back: a bike being used as a mobile bread shop, and ones carrying huge loads of wood and bananas.   Booktalked: My Rows & Piles of Coins by Tolowa Mollel -- another book about a kid in Africa trying to earn enough for a bicycle so he could help his family.

• Bikes for the World, Washington DC USA.  www.bikesfortheworld.org, info @bikesfortheworld.org *.  The do a lot of their collections around DC, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. BfW Video
  "As of 2007-2014 the largest, on an annual basis, of the international recycling organizations and is building a national movement to collect and distribute used bicycles for productive use.  Since beginning in 2005, it has delivered more than 90,000 bicycles to programs serving low-income individuals and their communities across the globe.  In 2013, Bikes for the World delivered 13,650 bicycles to more than a dozen selected service organizations, focusing on Africa and Central America, but with significant numbers going to the Philippines and community groups in the eastern U.S."  More groups: http://www.ibike.org/environment/recycling/recycling-orgs.htm

“Here’s another true story from Africa…what do you notice about the person on the cover?” (He’s riding a bicycle but only has one leg.)

Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson (A disabled boy in Ghana overcomes prejudice and poverty – ultimately going on a 400 mile bike ride to change his country’s attitudes and laws on disabled people.)

Showed pix from Gretchen the Bicycle Dog by Anita Heyman (636.7538 HEY) – (dog from NJ who lost the use of his legs found mobility again through an innovative set of wheels). Some classes: mentioned Mama Zooms by Jan Cowen-Fletcher

“Here’s another interesting set of wheels…”

Flannelboard: Mrs. Armitage on Wheels based on the story by Quentin Blake.  Mrs. Armitage continually adds “improvements” to her bicycle (horns, bucket of water for cleaning her hands after fixing the chain, a toolbox, a seat for her trusty dog “Breakspear”, a picnic basket & music box, umbrellas to keep off the rain and finally a sail for extra “oomph” – until the wind sends the whole contraption down a hill and turns it into a pile of junk…but that doesn’t phase Mrs. A.  She has a new set of wheels: roller skates!

(some classes): recapped Mrs. A’s adventures to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”

“How many of you are riding a two-wheeler without training wheels? Riding a bike for the first time without training wheels can be a challenge…but when you do, it feels like magic!”   The Magic Bicycle by Berlie Doherty

Booktalked: The Best Bike Ride Ever by James Proimos – “it is not enough to know how to ride a bike, you need to know how to stop it too!”

Closed with Fast Food by Saxton Freymann

Other fun titles (no time): Bike on Bear  by Cynthia Liu, Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale by Lisa Campbell Ernst, Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle and a Bicycle Changed History by Sue Stauffacher (used two years ago for Women’s History Month) Cromwell Dixon’s Sky-Cycle by John Abbot Nez (Picture Nez) – mostly true story of 1907 Boy Wonder inventor.

Want to add a bit of math?  Check out these bicycle problems from Bedtime Math. http://bedtimemath.org/?s=bicycles

Bedm. 3/16

Celebrating Women's History Month

(graphic from the National Women's History Museum)

Celebrating Women's History Month

Encouraging girls and boys to go beyond their comfort zones, to take risks and make history!

I wrote this post on one of my passions -- sharing the stories of "fascinating women history (mostly) forgot" with kids --for kateywrites.wordpress.com – a delightful blog about children and reading – take a look!

There was a young woman who wanted to fly.
But the people said, "Kiss that wish good-bye!
The sky's too big and the sky's too high,
And you never will fly, so you'd better not try."
But this woman laughed, and she just said, "Why?
Nobody owns the sky!"

from Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of
"Brave Bessie" Coleman by Reeve Lindbergh

 

(Bessie Coleman was a black woman who,
when denied admission to any flying school in the USA,
went to France and became the first black pilot in the world.)

 

I am a big fan of biographies.  Biographies are histories with personality.  In telling the story of one person in the context of historical events, they provide close-up windows into the past -- bringing the reader the emotion and immediacy of fiction in the context of real information.  They are also fascinating and fun!   Of course, there are many wonderful biographies about men, but since this is March, I'm going to focus on the women in this post...

New to biographies and not sure how to interest your kids?  Tie biographies into your child's passions. 

Have a dinosaur fan at your home?  Mary Anning & the Sea Dragon by Jeannine Atkins tells how the first dinosaur bones were found by a twelve year-old girl 200 years ago!  There are other good versions including Fossil Girl by Catherine Brighton (done in a graphic novel format, great for reluctant readers!) Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Lawrence Anholt and Rare Treasure by Don Brown (Note: If your library has more than one, consider comparing what each author chose to mention and leave out.)  http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/02/school-age-storytime-dinosaurs-galore.html

 

Or an aspiring dancer or musican?  Share Josephine : the dazzling life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina’s Dream by Kristy Dempsey, Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat by Roxane Orgill, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renee Watson, Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens by Nina Nolan, The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marion Anderson and the Struggle for Civil Rights by  Russell Freedman or  When Marian sang : the true recital of Marian Anderson : the voice of a century by Pam Muñoz Ryan -- all tell the stories of talented and determined black girls and women who wouldn't bow down to discrimination's limitations – real-life examples of Mary Hoffman’s classic picture book Amazing Grace!

 

How about a sports fan? Slam dunk Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women’s Hoops on the Map by Sue Macy. Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey introduces kids to the Women's Professional Baseball League established during World War Two after the men were sent off to fight. Make a movie night as well and show A League of Their Own.     Introduce the trailblazing female bat-welders  Queen of the Diamond: The Lizzie Murphy Story by Emily Arnold McCully,  Mighty Jackie: The Strike Out Queen by Marissa Moss and Girl Wonder by Deborah Hopkinson.  She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick profiles the first female sports executive and the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/school-age-storycraft-take-me-out-to.html  
For those more inclined to run track than around the bases, Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull tells the amazing story of a tiny, sickly black girl stricken by polio who ended up winning gold medals in track at the 1960 Olympics!  Newer title Go Wilma Go! by Amira Rose Davis & Michael G. Long. Pair this with the wonderful feminist fable about a running race:  "Atalanta" from Marlo Thomas and Friends’ 1974 feminist classic Free to Be You and Me (book, DVD, and CD available).  You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-77_cVnmUQ. 

Did you know that the bicycle helped lead to women’s voting rights?  Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History by Sue Stauffacher and Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy tell the extraordinary story of how the bicycle and women's rights were linked. You Forgot Your Skit Amelia Bloomer! by Shana Corey shows how wearing less-restrictive clothing opened up women to new opportunities. Mama Went to Jail for the Vote by Kathleen Krull and Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage by Claire Rudolph Murphy present a child's eye view of the struggle for women's suffrage. Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone, The Ballot Box Battle by Emily Arnold McCully and Heart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President by Ann Malaspina bring immediacy to the story of the pioneers of the suffrage moment who spent their lives trying to get the vote for women and never actually got to vote.  Rediscover some unknown vote-seeking women with I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets the Vote by Linda Arms White which profiles the woman whose "can-do" attitude was instrumental in making Wyoming the first state to allow women to vote (in 1869), then became the first woman to hold public office in the United States! A Woman for President: The Story of Victoria Woodhull by Kathleen Krull introduces the first woman to own a newspaper, to speak before Congress, and to have a seat on the stock exchange – but her boldest act was announcing herself as the first female candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1872--before women even had the right to vote!  An overview of the history of women’s attempts to hold elected office can be found in Madam President: The Extraordinary, True (and Evolving) Story of Women in Politics by Catherine Timmesh.

Move from bicycles to buses and blackboards -- Rosa by Nikki Giovanni is a moving and thought-provoking depiction of Rosa Parks. Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds and If a Bus Could Talk by Faith Ringgold offer two other interesting perspectives on this seminal act of Civil Disobedience.  Kids and teens have stood up for their rights too.  The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles shows the courage of the tiny six year old girl who was the first African-American child to integrate a New Orleans school and Separate But Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight of Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh profiles a Mexican American family’s struggle for their children to be allowed to attend white schools.  More recently, several books by and about Malala Yousafzai including I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World show that the struggle for girls’ education continues.

On a lighter note, maybe you have an aspiring inventor at your house?  Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully or In The Bag!: Margaret Knight Wraps it Up by Monica Kulling both tell the story of Margaret Knight, eventual holder of twenty patents, who fought discrimination and proved that she was just as intelligent an inventor as a man.  Monica Kulling has also just published Spic-in-Span: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen about the world's first female efficiency expert and the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering.  Catherine Thimmesh's Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women tells how correction fluid, windshield wipers, disposable diapers, and space helmets were all dreamed up by women.  Speaking of outer space, Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, the fictional story of a young tinkerer with big ideas, is going to be read from the International Space Station! http://www.slj.com/2015/03/books-media/rosie-revere-engineer-headed-to-the-international-space-station  More invention program ideas: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Inventors%20and%20Inventions

Inspire your budding space scientist… Carole Gerber’s Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer introduces the woman who developed the Harvard Spectral Classification System still used today to classify a star's light -- but also presents insights into the challenges of women interested in science during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer by Robert Burleigh and Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypatia by  D. Anne  Love profile two other star-gazing pioneers.

Girls who not only want to look up at the sky but fly up there will enjoy Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Robert Burleigh's Night Flight : Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic, Candice Fleming's Amelia Lost: the Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart or one of the many other biographies of the world's most famous female flyer.  But don't stop there -- there are many more great aviatrices to discover.  In Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of "Brave Bessie" Coleman, Reeve Lindbergh (youngest daughter of the famous Charles) poetically tells the story of the first black woman to became a pilot. Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger offers another version of her story.  Suzanne Whitaker’s The Daring Miss Quimby introduces America's first licensed female flyer and the first woman to solo across the English Channel. Read about the sixteen-year-old girl who flew under all four bridges in NYC's East  River in Soar Elinor by Tami Lewis Brown or about a Chinese-American woman who flew with the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II in Sky High, The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss.  Learn more about her fellow WASPs in Amy Nathan's Yankee Doodle Gals: Women Pilots of World War II.  Want more?  There are dozens more amazing flyers you've never heard of in The Roaring 20: the First Cross-Country Air Race for Women by Margaret Whitman Blair and Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys by Karen Bush Gibson. Seeking even higher altitudes?   Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Stone tells the about the women who were recruited by NASA in the early 1960s but never allowed to fly.   More ideas at: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=flight and my bibliography at https://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.com

Back on solid earth, share the story of an amazing architect. Julia Morgan Built a Castle by Celeste Davidson Mannis shows the determination of the first woman in the world to become a licensed architect (like Bessie Coleman, she had to travel to Paris to do it because no US school would accept her) and who went on to design seven hundred buildings and spend nearly thirty years on the design and construction of William Randolph Hearst's "castle" in California. http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/picture-this-designing-castle.html  Speaking of women with patience and drive, check out Helen's Eyes: a Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher by Marfe Ferguson Delano.

Do you know young people who seek challenge or adventure? Introduce them to the courageous women in Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride by Andrea and Brian Pinckney, Joan of Arc and Cleopatra both by Diane Stanley  (the latter starts with the memorable line: “Everything we know about Cleopatra was written by her enemies…”), The Librarian of Basra: a True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter, Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds: a Civil War Hero by Marissa Moss, The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter by Bonnie Christensen, Patience Wright: America’s First Sculptor and Revolutionary Spy by Pegi Deitz Shea, They Called her Molly Pitcher by Anne Rockwell, Mary Walker Wears the Pants: The True Story of the Doctor, Reformer, and Civil War Hero by Cheryl Harness, Molly, by Golly! : The Legend of America’s First Female Firefighter by Dianne Ochiltree, Brave girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel,  Delores Huerta: a Hero to Migrant Workers by Sarah E. Warren, She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Tribal Leader by Jan Godown Annino and Irena Sendler and the children of the Warsaw Ghetto by  Susan Goldman Rubin -- gripping true stories all!   Older readers will appreciate Kathryn J. Atwood’s two books Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics and Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue, and Cheryl Mullenbach’s Double victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II.

Or maybe someone passionate about nature?  In The Chimpanzee Children of Gombe: 50 Years with Jane Goodall at Gombe National Park, the famed naturalist and tireless advocate for our nearest biological relatives shares her mission with young people. Life in the Ocean: The Story of Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola or Meet My Grandmother: She’s a Deep Sea Diver by Lisa Tucker McElroy present the groundbreaking marine biologist and diver whose ocean exploration and advocacy have made her known around the world. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace by Jen Johnson, Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli, Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeannette Winter, and Planting the Trees of Kenya all tell the inspiring true story of Wangari Maathai, courageous environmentalist and winner of the Nobel Peace prize, whose passion & determination inspired hundreds of thousands of women across Africa to reforest their continent. Another fascinating tale out of Africa is One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul which shows how one enterprising woman turned plastic bags into purses and became an economic engine for her region. Closer to home, Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America by Kathi Appelt tells how we largely owe the presence of wildflowers instead of junk and billboards along the nation's highways to her tireless campaign. For more great role models, read Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor, The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by Joseph Hopkins, and Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You A Pie: A Story about Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley and Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin both tell about chefs who initiated the “farm to table” movement many years before it became the trend it is today.  http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Earth%20Day%20%26%20Environment

All of these and many more are the History-Makers -- well-known and unknown girls and women who pushed the envelope  -- without whom our world would be a very different place.   

I’ve only presented a small sampling of the possibilities – there are many other excellent books on these and other fascinating women.  Kathleen Krull’s Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought), Cynthia Chin-Lee’s Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World, Cheryl Harness’ Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference, Miriam Klein Stahl’s Rad American Women A-Z, Sylvia Branzai’s Adventurers, Julie Cummins’ Women Explorers and Women Daredevils, Holly George-Warren’s The Cowgirl Way: Hats Off to America's Women of the West, and Amelie Weldon’s Girls Who Rocked the World all provide fun and fascinating tidbits which hopefully will have your children eager to find out more!   A librarian can help them find these titles and offer additional suggestions. 

Most kids today take for granted the choices they have and have no idea of the limits that were (and still are) placed on women around the world.   As kids read about the obstacles people overcame, they build their own resiliency.  Hopefully, as they learn about these inspiring people, kids may say "I can do that!" and build dreams for themselves. 

 

"Do something every day that scares you."
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway."

-- -- Eleanor Roosevelt from Eleanor: Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport. 

Another great biography: 

Unshakable Eleanor: How Our 32nd First Lady Used Her Voice to Fight for Human Rights by Michelle Markel

 

Looking for other inspiring women? -- check out these links:

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Women%27s%20History%20Month -- many program ideas and bibliographies on these and other titles (type names or titles in the search box to see how I’ve used many in programs)

www.tellingherstories.com -- “fascinating women history forgot” links to my impersonations of women in engineering and flight and extensive bibliographies.

http://www.amightygirl.com/-- splendid booklists to inspire your girls, including this great bibliography of biographies  http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography-- also daily stories at: http://www.facebook.com/amightygirl

https://ameliabloomer.wordpress.com/-- Named after the pioneering 19^th century newspaper editor, public speaker and suffragist, this annual list features books for children and teens about girls and women that spur the imagination while confronting traditional female stereotypes. If you are looking to create a bulletin board of these award-winners, check out my post: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=amelia+bloomer

http://www.girlssucceed.blogspot.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/TellingHerstory --- profiles of amazing but lesser-known women & girls
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kidlit-Celebrates-Womens-History-Month/629392300461620-- guest posts by children's authors, illustrators, and librarians
http://www.slj.com/2015/03/collection-development/focus-on-collection-development/gamechangers-women-making-history-focus-on  -- Recommended titles and websites for students and teachers

Carol Simon Levin is a Youth Services Librarian, author, storyteller and program presenter based in Bridgewater N.J. Whether she is telling the amazing stories of early women in aviation, engaging families in a rousing Halloween Hootenanny of songs and stories, expanding on the mathematical and artistic possibilities of a simple square, or sharing the story of a dolphin who learned to swim with an artificial tail (along with activities to help children understand what it is like to live with a disability), she always strives to create exciting programs that engage her audience’s interests and expand their horizons. Check out her blog carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com for many more ideas. She also does historical impersonations/STEM programs of "fascinating women history forgot." Information at TellingHerStories.com.
Carol Simon Levin is a member of the New Jersey Storytelling Network, the New Jersey Library Association, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.