I am a senior Early Childhood and Special Education major here at Millersville University. As I prepare to leave college, I have been researching and gathering some books that I feel will be essential to my classroom library. Some of those big topics in books that I want to include are the environment (how to be kind to our earth and give back to it), diversity, race/culture (and their histories), gender, racial, and women’s equality. In honor of Women’s History Month, these are some authors I have found through some research whose children’s books are worthy of your classroom library:
Vashti Harrison
Vashti Harrison has written the books Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History and Little Dreamer: Visionary Women Around the World. These books show heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things. Each turn of a page is a new woman. There is an excerpt about them and their accomplishments on the right, and on the left is a cartoon version of them. Both books, for the majority, focus on women of color, allowing young girls of color to see women like them being ‘leaders’ and ‘dreamers.’
Rachel Ignotofsky
Rachel Ignotofsky has written the books Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired the World, Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win, and Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. These books are much like Harrison’s in their layout; on the right page, there is an excerpt about the fearless women and their accomplishments and on the left is a cartoon version of them. I enjoy these books because it shows young girls women who were brave and successful in careers that women do not normally forgo.
Andrea Beaty
Andrea Beaty has written the storybooks Iggy Peck, Architect, Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, and Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. These books are fiction but show how one child can make a difference. This author uses a diverse group of female characters in her books and touches on careers that are typically male-dominated. I think it’s vital that young girls see books that include them in the male-dominated field and show them being the ones to make the change.