Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty; ill. by David Roberts Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2013 32 pages Over on the Read Like a Girl Facebook page, I've been sharing a lot of posts related to the relative dearth of women in STEM fields. It's a subject that's top-of-mind for me because my daughter, who … Continue reading Rosie Revere, Engineer
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald Dial, 2014 247 pages I love literary serendipity. A couple of years ago, while my husband was out of town one week, I watched a documentary called The Rape of Europa. It was my first encounter with the story of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) military … Continue reading Under the Egg
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan HarperCollins, 1985 58 pages For most of my childhood, my family attended a church that had a lending library. Among the books were novels about pioneer-era mail-order marriages, which I completely devoured. They were trite and fluffy reads, but through them I caught a glimpse of something serious: … Continue reading Sarah, Plain and Tall
Grandma's Purple Flowers by Adjoa J. Burrowes Lee & Low Books, 2000 32 pages I've written before about the special relationship I had with my maternal grandmother, and about how devastated I was when she died, just a few months before I graduated from college. I know I was blessed to have her as long … Continue reading Grandma’s Purple Flowers
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011 341 pages I have a thing for dark humor. I'm also a fan of period fiction (sometimes truly historical, sometimes not) and stories with a strong regional flavor. Give me a book, TV show, or movie that combines the two, and I'm in heaven. … Continue reading Super Secondaries: The Ladies of Norvelt
Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt Follett, 1966 192 pages Irene Hunt's Up a Road Slowly is a problem book. I can't remember where I first heard about it, but I do remember being told that it's a great book for girls. By the time I finished reading it, however, I wasn't sure - … Continue reading Up a Road Slowly
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo; ill. by K.G. Campbell Candlewick Press, 2013 233 pages Finding inspiration in the sublime or the exceptional is fairly easy: the girl who bravely battles the wilderness, cancer, or a super-villain is an obvious candidate to inspire the next generation of women. The problem is, most … Continue reading Flora and Ulysses
