http://genderequalbooks.com Children's books to foster equality Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:45:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Throughout her life, Amelia Earhart was often told, "you can't do that!" This accessible picture book uses this refrain to highlight Earhart's persistence, creativity, and courage. As a child, she built a kind of "roller coaster" in her yard. As a young woman she worked as a nurse and thought ... http://genderequalbooks.com/you-cant-do-that-amelia-by-klier-and-kemly/ Many traditional folk tales feature men and boys as the heroes. However, there are a number of traditional folk tales showing women and girls as strong, intelligent, and resourceful. Here is a list of books from small publishers. Both girls and boys will enjoy reading or hearing these tales. Watch Out ... http://genderequalbooks.com/feminist-folk-tales/ In honor of Black History Month (February), I've highlighted biographies and picture books about African-Americans from my list. In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage, by Alan Schroeder Augusta Savage, a poor African-American girl living in Florida in the 1890s, loved to make figures from the clay she dug up around ... http://genderequalbooks.com/black-history-month-books/ In the early 1960s, as white male fighter pilots were being tested to be astronauts, a small group of women pilots was also put through the same tests. These women got the chance to take the tests because a NASA doctor, Randolph Lovelace, was curious about how women would perform. ... http://genderequalbooks.com/almost-astronauts-by-tanya-lee-stone/ Women Making America tells the fascinating and often overlooked story of women's lives in the United States from 1770 to the present. The authors, Heidi Hemming and Julie Savage, are two teachers who were motivated to spend five years researching and writing this book because "we could not find a single book wherein young as ... http://genderequalbooks.com/women-making-america-by-hemming-and-savage/ I've never seen a book quite like Tofu Quilt. It is a collection of 38 free-verse poems about the author's childhood in Hong Kong during the 1950s and 1960s, and her desire to become a writer, despite the fact that she is a girl and is not expected to have a ... http://genderequalbooks.com/tofu-quilt-by-ching-yeung-russell/ A New York school librarian has compiled a list of over 80 picture books featuring gay parents and/or a gay theme. Gay-Themed Picture Books for Children lists books from large publishers and small, and even some publishers outside the U.S. Included are many books like Asha's Mums, featuring gay parents. Also included ... http://genderequalbooks.com/picture-books-with-gay-parents/ A group of five children (four boys and a girl) decide, one summer day, to play "war" with pine cones for bombs, and sticks for guns. One boy, who has recently come to the United States from another (unnamed) country, starts to play but decides to go home when his ... http://genderequalbooks.com/playing-war-by-kathy-beckwith/ I had never heard of Rose O'Neill before picking up this book, although I was familiar with "kewpies," her most famous creation. Rose O'Neill was a commercial illustrator and comic artist in the early 1900s, at a time when most commercial illustrators were men. This children's biography of Rose O'Neill concentrates on ... http://genderequalbooks.com/rose-oneill-the-girl-who-loved-to-draw/ I just received an e-mail from a founder of New Moon Girls, which, since the early 1990s, has published a wonderful, girl-edited, advertising-free  magazine for girls ages 8-14. The magazine is now in financial trouble and may close at the end of this year. I would like to invite my visitors ... http://genderequalbooks.com/new-moon-girls-magazine/