March 2021

Picture Books

Emmy Noether: The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of
Written by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Kari Rust
Kids Can Press, 2020
ISBN 978-1-5253-0059-2
IL: Ages 5-9 RL: Grades 3-4

Emmy Noether is not pretty, quiet, good at housework or eager to marry — all the things a German girl is expected to be in her time. What she is, though, is a genius at math. When she grows up, she finds a way to first study math at a university (by sitting in, not actually enrolling) and then to teach it (by doing so for free). She also manages to do her own research into some of the most pressing math and physics problems of the day. And though she doesn”t get much credit during her lifetime, her discoveries continue to influence how we understand the world today.

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Happy Birthday, Alice Babette
Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Qin Leng
Groundwood Books, 2016
ISBN 978-1-55498-820-4
IL: Ages 5-9 RL: Grades 2-4

It’s Alice’s birthday! But her friend Gertrude seems to have forgotten. No matter, Alice goes out and enjoys her day just the same. A beautiful spring afternoon in Paris — what could be better? Little does she know that her dear friend has a few surprises up her sleeve. Inspired by the lives of artist Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, this is a sweetly joyful story of love, friendship and creative inspiration.

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Gyo Fujikawa’s iconic children’s books are beloved around the world. Now it’s time for Gyo’s story to be told — a story of artistic talent that refused to be constrained by rules and expectations. In the 1960s, Gyo created a picture book with a diverse cast of babies… black babies, Asian babies, all kinds of babies. Had it ever been done before? Not yet…

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Walking in the City with Jane: A Story of Jane Jacobs
Written by Susan Hughes
Illustrated by Valérie Boivin
Kids Can Press, 2018
ISBN 978-1-77138-653-1
IL: Ages 7-9 RL: Grade 4

In this engaging informational picture book, author Susan Hughes provides a fictionalized story of the life of Jane Jacobs, an urban thinker and activist who made planning and development of healthy cities her life’s work and whose influence is still felt today. Kids will be inspired to notice the “sidewalk ballet” around them and to protect what makes their communities — and their cities — great!

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The Lady and the Books
Written by Kathy Stinson
Illustrated by Marie Lafrance
Kids Can Press, 2020
ISBN 978-1-5253-0154-4
IL: Ages 4-7 RL: Grades PreK-2

Anneliese and Peter will never be the same after the war that took their father’s life. One day, while wandering the ruined streets of Munich, the children follow a line of people entering a building, thinking there may be free food inside. Instead, they are delighted to discover a great hall filled with children’s books — more books than Anneliese can count. Here, they meet the lady with the books, who encourages the children to read as much as they want. And she invites them to come back the next day. Eventually, she will have a greater impact on the children’s lives than they could ever have imagined.

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A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice
Written by Nadia L. Hohn
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Owlkids Books, 2019
ISBN 978-1-77147-350-7
IL: Ages 7-10 RL: Grades 2-3

Iconic poet Louise Bennett Coverley, or Miss Lou, popularized the use of patois and helped pave the way for artists like Harry Belafonte and Bob Marley. This picture book tells the story of Miss Lou as a young girl who loved poetry but felt caught between writing “lines of words like tight cornrows” or words that beat “in time with her heart.”

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Ocean Speaks: How Marie Tharp Revealed the Ocean’s Biggest Secret
Written by Jess Keating
Illustrated by Katie Hickey
Tundra Books, 2020
ISBN 978-0-7352-6508-0
IL: Ages 4-8 RL: Grade 3

In the 1950s, Marie Tharp got a job at a research laboratory. Barred from the ships going out to explore the ocean floor, she analyzed the data they recorded and created a map of the Atlantic Ocean floor, including a deep rift. Despite her colleague’s disbelief, her evidence was irrefutable. The mid-ocean ridge that Marie discovered is the single largest geographic feature on the planet.

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Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom
(People Who Shaped Our World)
Written by Teresa Robeson
Illustrated by Rebecca Huang
Sterling Children’s Books, 2019
ISBN 978-1-4549-3220-8
IL: Ages 7-12 RL: Grades 2-3

Although Wu Chien Shiung was born in China 100 years ago when most girls did not attend school, her parents encouraged her love of science. Wu Chien Shiung battled sexism and racism to become the ‘Queen of Physics’ for her work on beta decay. She earned the admiration of other scientists and became the first woman instructor at Princeton University, amongst other honours.

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Junior & Intermediate Fiction

Amelia and Me
Written by Heather Stemp
Pennywell Books, 2013
ISBN 978-1-77117-254-7
IL: Ages 10-12 RL: Grades 4-6

The year is 1932. The place is Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, where most of the early transatlantic flights take off. Unfortunately, more of them end in tragedy than success, but that’s not going to discourage 12-year-old Ginny Ross, who longs to be a pilot like her hero Amelia Earhart. Does Ginny have what it takes to make her dream come true, even when the obstacles to her success are enormous?

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Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Journey to Justice
Written by Debbie Levy
Illustrated by Whitney Gardner
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2019
ISBN 978-1-5344-2456-2
IL: Ages 11 and up RL: Grades 5-6

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a modern feminist icon who blazed trails to the peaks of the male-centric worlds of education and law, where women had rarely risen before. The child who questioned unfairness became a student who persisted despite obstacles, who became an advocate who resisted injustice, who became a judge who revered the rule of law, who became… RBG.

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The Mozart Girl
Written by Barbara Nickel
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Second Story Press, 2019
ISBN 978-1-77260-089-6
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5

Nannerl Mozart’s 12th-birthday wish is to become a famous composer. She’s already a musical prodigy, touring Europe with her little brother, Wolfgang, and playing for queens and kings. But Papa doesn’t take her seriously as a composer because she is a girl, Mama always has chores for her to do, and Wolfi steals everyone’s attention. Can Nannerl hold on to her dreams?

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The Case of the Missing Moonstone
(The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency)
Written by Jordan Stratford
Illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2015
ISBN 978-0-385-75440-8
IL: Ages 8-11 RL: Grades 4-5

Lady Ada Byron, 11, is an awkward, mildly rude genius. Mary Godwin, 14, is an adventurous, kind romantic. Together they form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency — a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals. Their first case involves a stolen heirloom, a false confession and an array of fishy suspects. But it’s no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.

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Young Adult Fiction

Worlds of Ink and Shadow
Written by Lena Coakley
HarperCollins Publishers, 2016
ISBN 978-1-44341-659-7
IL: Ages 14 and up RL: Grades 8-9

Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne. The Brontë siblings have always been inseparable. Their vivid imaginations let them escape from their strict upbringing, transporting them into their created worlds. But as Branwell descends into madness and the sisters feel their real lives slipping away, they must weigh the cost of their powerful imaginations, even as their characters refuse to let them go.

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Non-Fiction

From Cleopatra to Coco Chanel and Marlene Dietrich to Madonna, female style rebels have used clothes to shake things up and break the rules. With an energetic, appealing writing style, Croll demonstrates how through the ages, women — often without other means of power — have used fashion as a tool, and how their influence continues to shape the way women present themselves today.

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Canadian Women Now and Then: More Than 100 Stories of Fearless Trailblazers
Written by Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrated by Maïa Faddoul
Kids Can Press, 2020
ISBN 978-1-5253-0061-5
IL: Ages 9 and up RL: Grade 5

Emily Stowe. Viola Desmond. Roberta Bondar. Canadian women have long been ground breakers, often battling incredible odds and discrimination. This unique look at history tells the stories of today’s inspiring Canadian women alongside trailblazers from the past who paved the way. Together, these women tell the story of Canada. And together, they offer a vision of what’s possible.

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Fierce: Women Who Shaped Canada
Written by Lisa Dalrymple
Illustrated by Willow Dawson
Scholastic Canada, 2019
ISBN 978-1-4431-7510-4
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5

Celebrate the accomplishments of overlooked heroes of Canadian history. Relegated to sidelines of history, the 10 inspiring women highlighted in this book were fierce, yet most readers have never heard of them. Their stories are integral to our national legacy. Its time to hear the stories of Marguerite de la Roque, Ttha’naltther, Catherine Schubert, Victoria Cheung, Mona Parsons and many others.

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Gardening with Emma: Grow and Have Fun — a Kid-to-Kid Guide
Written by Emma Biggs
Illustrated by Rob Hodgson
Storey Publishing, 2019
ISBN 978-1-612-12925-9
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4

Dig, discover and grow cool things! With tips for how to grow a flower stand garden, and suggestions for veggies from tiny to colossal, 13-year-old Emma shares her just-for-kids’ advice on growing a garden, including theme garden ideas and tips for preparing, planting and caring for a garden, along with creative ways to have fun doing it.

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The Girl Who Rode a Shark: And Other Stories of Daring Women
Written by Ailsa Ross
Illustrated by Amy Blackwell
Pajama Press, 2019
ISBN 978-1-77278-098-7
IL: Ages 8 and up RL: Grades 5-6

Now more than ever, the world is recognizing how strong women and girls are. In this collection of biographies of women and girls whose perseverance in pursuit of their passions plunged them headfirst into the pages of history, readers will discover a Canadian astronaut, an Indian secret agent, and a free-diving chef who rode a shark!

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Jazz Jennings: Voice for LGBTQ Youth
(Remarkable Lives Revealed)
Written by Ellen Rodger
Crabtree Publishing, 2017
ISBN 978-0-7787-3423-9
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5

Jazz Jennings is one of the first young people to speak publicly about her experiences as a transgender individual. Overcoming incredible struggles as a young transgender person, Jazz now uses her platform to make a difference in the LGBTQ community. A vocal advocate for equal rights, she co-founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation — all before the age of 15.

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