Wednesday NF-Picture Books

        Time to share on Wednesdays with Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at her blog, Kidlit Frenzy.  Interesting titles this week, all with a similar thread!

        Thanks Alyson!   Tweet - #NFPB15

         The books I share today share the theme of the fight against stereotyping. Whether human or animal, all creatures need to be accepted for individual merits. One needs to look and look again at personal beliefs, to see if you really know "all" of the story.

 

            During a time when our culture thought that women/girls should only be "ladies", Lucille Mulhall set out to prove otherwise. From her beginnings of lassoing anything she could instead of jumping rope, she was soon riding the range, roping cattle, breaking broncos, and when needed, lassoing a wolf! After successfully showing off these skills at a show for Teddy Roosevelt, she began appearing in other shows, and finally created her own Wild West group that traveled the country. It’s fun to learn about another young person who knew what they wanted to do in life, and did it! The book’s illustrations are bright and bold, like Lucille.

Like so many stereotypes, there are those “dirty rats” both real and metaphorically in our lives. The stereotype is tough to break. In this book, Darrin Lunde writes to dispel some of the myths by sharing different kinds of rats in the world that aren’t dirty, and are helpful in the natural world. The detailed illustrations help erase the myths.

With more of my city friends excited about a few chickens in their backyard coops, I’m not surprised to see this book about chickens. It starts with “A chicken followed me home. What do I do next?” and takes the reader through all the facts one would like to know about chickens, the kinds, where they sleep, what they eat, how many eggs, and on.  With spare text asking the questions and a longer piece on the side, it’s cleverly organized and the pages are dominated with Robin Page’s beautiful illustrations. There is excellent, additional back matter. It’s a fun book that makes me want a chicken to follow me home!

         In this time before our next presidential election, more news is appearing about candidates who are running, candidates who are already making bloopers in the news, and talk about who are really going to be the next frontrunners. In this book, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen writes of the not-so-known story of Belva Lockwood, the first woman to run for president, even before women could vote. The story of her life is extraordinary, first to graduate as a lawyer, first to argue before the Supreme Court, and finally, first female presidential candidate. And she received votes! Controversy seemed always to be in Belva’s life, but she just kept pushing to gain what she knew was her right. It’s an inspiring story that hasn’t often been in history books. Courtney Martin’s full page illustrations of all the parts of Belva’s life and those expressions of dismay from both women and men show what Belva had to face.