New in non-fiction picture books

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There are some amazing new non-fiction picture books that have just been released.  What a great way to start your summer reading!

The first one is called "Voices from the Underground Railroad" by Kay Winters.  It's poems about the experiences of two slaves running away from a master who is planning to sell them south to pay off his gambling debts.  What's great about this one is that it has ALL the voices-so there are poems from the point of view of the master's wife and the slave catchers and the people who are station masters on the Underground Railroad.  Larry Day's pictures are lovely pen and ink with water color and help the reader understand the urgency and the immediacy of the action of the story.  I thought this one was terrific.


The second one is called "Girl Running" by Annette Bay Pimentel and illustrated by Micha Archer.  It's about a young woman named Bobbi Gibb who liked to run.  She lived in a time before Title Nine sports, when women were encouraged to stay at home and take care of the children.  But she ran.  She ran in spite of the fact that she didn't have proper running shoes (she started training with nurses shoes!) and set a goal to run in the Boston Marathon.  Except it turned out that they didn't allow women to run in the Boston Marathon.  So she ran anyway.  It's a lovely story of determination and persistence.  The art work is terrific too-the pictures are bright and full of energy, just like Bobbi must be.  I can't wait to share this one with my students. 


The last one is called "She Persisted Around the World".  It's written by Chelsea Clinton and illustrated by Alexandra Boiger.  This is the second book like this-it's a collective biography of 13 women around the world who worked hard and made a difference.  It covers a range of areas where the women persisted, including dance, politics, peace making, science, and sports.  This is not book to get deep information, rather short pieces of text with lovely, warm colored pictures to inspire kids to do more research.   This will be an excellent addition to our library!  

Here's a short video introducing the book. 





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