Awesome History - Non-Fiction Picture Books

   

              Thanks to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy, those who link up share wonderful non-fiction picture books. I am grateful for all that I've learned through reading non-fiction picture books. 

          Wow, I’ve had students choose to study fashion through all my teaching career, and this is one book I’m sorry that I didn’t have to put in the hands of my students. The book begins with a quiz in order to discover just who is your style icon, and the rest of the book fills you up with stories and fashions from Cleopatra and Katherine Hepburn to the latest “rebels”, including Tavi Gevinson, Lady Gaga, Ellen DeGeneres and others who were new to me. Tavi Gevinson started a fashion blog in sixth grade, is now a grown up actress, still writing about fashion.

         There is the story of the little black dress and who wore the pants (a fashion first at a variety of times). Carlyn Beccia has also included the fashion firsts from first lady Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama refuses to wear panty hose (did you know?), and at first had everyone twittering about this. She’s worn mall fashions and those from new designers, helping them to get their careers started. There is a section about first ladies, too. And, like Mrs. Obama’s pages, the stories are not all about fashion, but brief biographies of each. After each bio, a page has been created showing one outfit with accessories that show that person’s style, including things like exercise, healthy food, safety pins, color favorites.       

           The illustrations look like fashion designs, black ink with watercolor, and are so glamorous. The final pages challenge the reader to become one’s own fashionista, and the backmatter is filled with notes, a bibliography and a fashion dictionary. It is a wonderful look at something many care about, and will learn more after reading and studying this book. There is a terrific website here that shares more about the book, and offers fun activities.

Opening page for Ellen DeGeneres

 

one of the style pages

some highlights of fashion

I want to remind everyone of the post I wrote about the great series by Carole P. Roman here. She continues to publish more books, is now writing tales of long ago, as in “If You Lived in. . .” and also adding to the varied books about countries.