Four Short Story Collections About Strong Women and Girls Around the World

My apologies for the long silence! This is a list of recommendations I wanted to post during Women's History Month, but couldn't get a hold of all the titles in time. That's okay though since we celebrate women and girls all the time on Ink & Pen! So, here are four collections of short stories about strong women and girls who think--and do--for themselves. Many of these tales have been buried or ignored, but we're glad to have them available to us now. Enjoy!

Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls
collected and told by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Susan Guevara

This collection of thirteen tales from Greece, Niger, Germany, Argentina, China, the White River Sioux, the Ozark Mountains, Scotland, Romania, Poland, Japan, France, and England, was by far my favorite. Yolen is a gifted storyteller and chose an array of engrossing tales that left me wishing there were a second collection!

The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Women
written by Katrin Tchana, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

This collection includes 18 stories of strong girls and women from Asia, the Americas, India, the Jewish tradition, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The tales in this collection are fascinating and the girls in them are all strong in unique ways. The illustrations for this treasury are remarkable and the stories fascinating.

Five More Picture Books That Celebrate Creativity in Girls

Our previous post about books that celebrate creative girls has been so popular that we wanted to offer you more five more titles in the same vein:

Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald No Combina
written by Monica Brown, illustrated by Sara Palacios

From her brown skin and red hair, to her penchant for wearing polka dots with stripes, people tell Marisol McDonald that she doesn't match. Marisol doesn't mind though: she likes herself the way she is, but when a friend tells her she couldn't match if she tried, Marisol decides to take up the challenge. But matching is no fun for Marisol who learns that her uniqueness is something to celebrate. Palacios's illustrations are vibrant, colorful, and fun. Includes a note on why the author created a multiracial protagonist, as well as a note on the translation. Bilingual: English/Spanish

Jingle Dancer
written by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying Hwa-Hu

Jenna wants to dance at the upcoming powwow, but there isn't enough time to order the tins to make her dress jingle. Undeterred, Jenna visits family members and friends considerately asking each for only enough jingles to make a row, ensuring no one dress will be silent. Each person who lends Jenna jingles can't attend the powwow and asks her to dance for them. When the day of the powwow arrives, Jenna dances beautifully to the brum, brum, brum, brum beat of the drum, for herself and for everyone that helped her, jingling all the while. Beautifully illustrated by Van Wright and Hu who showcase the diversity of skin tones found among Native American people. Includes an author's note and glossary.

Five Diverse Picture Books for Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! Here are five diverse books that celebrate mothers and mother love.

Mother's Day
written by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell

A wonderful book (especially for a classroom read aloud) about students in a very diverse class sharing the kind things they plan to do for their mothers for Mother's Day. The story includes instructions on making a flower with a button, paper and pipe cleaner.

Hush!: A Thai Lullaby
written by Minfong Ho, illustrated by Holly Meade

A Thai mother tells all the noisy creatures in and around her house to quiet down while her son sleeps. Winner of the Caldecott Honor.

Weekly Roundup: May 5 - May 11, 2013

• The Gender Coverup at the HuffPost

• YA Books Need to Reflect Our Diverse Society at The Telegraph

• Fredrick McKissack, Half of Award-Winning Writing Team, Dies at 73  at SLJ

•  Judging Covers at CBC Diversity

Five Fun Picture Books for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

It's May and that means it's Asian-Pacific Heritage Month! Of course, we celebrate everyone all year long, but we like to make a special effort to highlight specific people groups when it is their special month. We'll have lots of recommendations for you over the course of the month so be sure to stop by often.

 Big Sister, Little Sister

written and illustrated by LeUyen Pham

 

The title says it all in this hilarious book about the trials of being a little sister, narrated by Little Sister. Little Sister definitely thinks she gets the short end of the stick, getting hand-me-downs and never getting to do things first, but she still has fun being a little sister. In the end, Little Sister comes to the conclusion that though Big Sister is bossy she is a good big sister, and while she'll always be older, Little Sister will always be better at being a little sister. A laughter-filled book about sisterhood with appeal to a broad age. 

The Seven Chinese Sisters

written by Kathy Tucker, illustrated by Grace Lin

 

In this girl-centered retelling of the Chinese folktale Ten Brothers, six sisters, each different and each with their own special skill, save their youngest sister from a dragon.

For Earth Day and Arbor Day: Four Books about Wangari Maathai

In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day (later on this week here in the U.S.), we have four recommendations for books about Wangari Maathai, the environmentalist and activist who curbed Kenyan deforestation by planting trees. For those of you unfamiliar with Maathai, here is a short summary of her life and work:

Born April 1, 1940, Wangari Maathai grew up in the central highlands of Kenya. Taught from a young age to respect trees and the world around her, she eventually moved to the U.S. to study biology in college. When she returned to Kenya as a college professor (a particularly noteworthy accomplishment for a woman at the time), Maathai found the government was allowing big foreign companies to deforest her homeland, leading to problems like soil erosion and lack of food.  Maathai took action; gathering other mothers, they began planting trees to ensure the world they passed on to their children and future generations would be a good one. In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement--now a worldwide movement--promoting the planting of trees, recycling, and alternative energy sources.

In 2004, at the age of 64, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Until her death from ovarian cancer in 2011, Maathai was active in planting trees, sharing about the importance of preserving our environment, and promoting women's and children's rights, both in her native Kenya and abroad. These books are all great introductions to Maathai's life and work. They can be read individually, but I would recommend they be read together--perhaps over the course of a week or weekend, or sprinkled throughout a day--as they compliment each other and all tell Maathai's story from a unique vantage point. The last two books have lighter text--and so miss out on some of the important and interesting details of Maathai's life--but may be easier for younger readers (4 and younger) with shorter attention spans. All of the books include notes with additional information about Maathai's life and times.

Book Recommendation: On the Seventh Night of Passover

Miriam's Cup: A Passover Story
written by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Bob Dancey

 

Girls of Color in Dystopia Blog Series at bitchmedia

Over at bitchmedia, Victoria Law is guest blogging a two-month series about race and gender in YA dystopian lit called Girls of Color in Dystopia.

In Do Girls of Color Survive Dystopia?, Law talks about the difficulty she has had finding dystopian YA that features a girl of color protagonist for her 12-year old daughter. She mentions Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson and the short story collection Diverse Energies as two exceptions in a sea of dystopia featuring white female protagonists.

 

Five True Stories About Daring Girls and Women

Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride 

written by Pam Muñoz Ryan
illustrated by Brian Selznick

Here is the true story of the night Amelia Earhart and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt went for an unsanctioned nighttime plane ride--and all while still attired in their evening wear. Having similar courageous hearts, Roosevelt and Earhart were friends before the flight chronicled in this book. When Roosevelt heard Earhart would be in Washington D.C. to make a speech, she invited Earhart and her husband to The White House for dinner. When the dinner conversation turned to the joy of flying at night (at the time, only a few pilots--including Earhart--had attempted night flight), the two friends make a spontaneous decision to skip out on dessert in favor of a quick trip to Baltimore and back.

Ryan and Selznick celebrate the independent spirit of two of the most famous and inspiring women of their time. Selznick's illustrations are as superb as ever and capture the magic of their night flight. An author's note sifts fact from fiction.

Five Picture Books About Brave and Clever Girls

Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's King Fu
written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

During the reign of the last Ming Emperor, a girl was born who was named Jingyong, meaning "Quiet Courage." Scorning a future for his daughter as a lady-in-waiting, her father raised her as a son, having her tutored in the five pillars of learning, including martial arts. Jingyong excelled at Kung Fu and when her city was overtaken by enemies, she journeyed to study with the monks of the Shaolin Monastery. Seeing her incredible skill at Kung Fu, they renamed her Wu Mei, which means "Beautiful Warrior." When a local girl is bullied into accepting a marriage proposal from a thug and comes to her for help, Wu Mei teaches the girl Kung Fu so she can solve her own problems. This is an excellent retelling of the legend of Wu Mei and does a superb job of helping readers understand the principles behind Kung Fu. An Author's Note further expands readers understanding of the art, explaining that there is much more to Kung Fu than what we see in Western movies.

Four Picture Books That Celebrate Creativity in Girls

I Had a Favorite Dress written by Boni Ashburn and illustrated by Julia Denos is a fun book about a girl who outgrows her favorite dress. Instead of parting with it, the girl's smart and inventive mother helps her re-imagine the dress into something new. As the little girl continues to grow, they continue to use their creativity to morph the dress into various articles of clothing.

Happy Women's History Month!

March is Women's History Month here in the U.S. We love the above quote and think that teaching women's history is key to ensuring women and girls everywhere are respected as human beings. This March we'll be focusing on celebrating girls and women and hope to introduce you to some new titles that portray strong, smart, and creative female characters. Gloria Steinem once said, "Women have always been an equal part of the past. We just haven't been a part in history," and we at Ink & Pen want to do our part to change that!