SAN ANTONIO – You can teach your kids about women’s history and give them something fun to read at the same time.
Spurs Give and the San Antonio Public Library have teamed up to give you a new book list every month. The reading list from March featured book picks highlighting women in honor of Women’s History Month.
First up from the biographies for juveniles list is “All the Way to the Top” by Annette Bay Pimentel. The book is about Jennifer Keelan-Chaffin’s activism in the disability rights movement, culminating in the Capitol Crawl on March 12, 1990. Alongside adult activists with disabilities, Jennifer hauled herself up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to advocate for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, after which Congress passed the bill.
2. Exquisite
“Exquisite” is the biography of African American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, whose story is told in stirring free verse and with beautiful acrylic paintings. In 1950, Brooks became the first Black person to receive a Pulitzer Prize. This book will get readers interested in her works, and is meant for kids ages six to nine.
“Gloria Takes A Stand” is about how Gloria Steinem listened, wrote and changed the world. Written by Jessica M. Rinker, this book brings to the page a spirited look at Gloria Steinem’s influential life, energizing a new generation of feminists to stand up and demand equal rights for all people.
4. How Kate Warne Saved President Lincoln
“How Kate Warne Saved president Lincoln” is a story about the nation’s first woman detective. It’s a picture book account of Kate Warne, and how she went undercover as a society lady on a mission to thwart an assassination plot against President Lincoln. This book is intended for children in grades two to four.
“Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” by Irin Carmon is a young readers edition of the adult book of the same name. It presents an illustrated biography of the feminist icon and legal pioneer who has changed the world, especially in the realms of gender equality and civil rights.
6. Born Curious
Moving to juvenile non-fiction, “Born Curious: Twenty Girls Who Grew up to Be Awesome Scientists” by Martha Freeman is a collection of biographies of twenty groundbreaking women scientists who were curious kids and grew up to make incredible discoveries.
You may be familiar with its film version, “Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA’s African American women mathematicians to America’s space program. The book describes how Jim Crow Laws segregated them despite their groundbreaking successes.
For more information on these books from the San Antonio Public Library and the Spurs Give book list, click here.