Illuminating Brilliance: 6 Books That Feature Bold Female Innovators
Check out our amazing collection of outstanding books featuring bold female innovators! These incredible stories spotlight both fictional and real-life trailblazers who used their unique talents to make the world a better and more beautiful place.
From artists to scientists, each picture book encourages young dreamers to embrace the moment, become game-changers, and find solutions. Buy a book (or two or three) and embark on a journey with your young dreamer to discover how to become a game-changing innovator.
by Traci N. Todd (Author), Shannon Wright (Illustrator)
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book • Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
An evocative picture book biography about the prolific life of Jackie Ormes, whose groundbreaking cartoons became some of the first empowering depictions of Black women in America!
Jackie Ormes made history. She was the first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States. She was also a journalist, fashionista, philanthropist, and activist, and she used her incredible talent and artistry to bring joy and hope to people everywhere. But in post-World War II America, Black people were still being denied their civil rights, and Jackie found herself in a dilemma: How could her art stay true to her signature "Jackie joy" while remaining honest about the inequalities Black people had been fighting?
Rising stars Traci N. Todd, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Nina: A Story of Nina Simone, and Shannon Wright, co-creator of the bestselling graphic novel Twins, have crafted a gorgeous and heartfelt tribute to the indelible legacy of Jackie Ormes, whose life and work still influences illustrators and cartoonists today.
Izzy Gizmo has been invited to Technoff Isle's Genius Convention where the inventor of the best machine will win coveted admittance to the Genius Guild. But with fearsome foe Abi von Lavish getting the best of her at every turn, how can Izzy and Fixer come up with the winning invention?
Much-loved heroine Izzy Gizmo returns (together with Grandpa and Fixer) in a wonderfully exuberant story that has serious points to make about the importance of make do and mend.
Fancy Party Gown by Deborah Blumenthal is the biography of Africana Entrepreneurial Hero Ann Cole Lowe. This inspirational story begins with Lowe recognizing her talent as a child to a woman who made dresses for prominent women of her time.
Parents looking to teach their kids how to become entrepreneurial will see this book as a value tool. The author does a masterful job at showing how Lowe used an entrepreneurial mindset to move beyond barriers that sought to rob her of the chance at accomplishing her dream.
In an age where traditional employment is rapidly evaporating, we must teach our children to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and spirit needed to thrive.
This book enables children to begin the process of the developing the aforementioned abilities.
Going Places by Peter Reynolds is an amazing book about innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. A class is given a boxcar set with instructions. However, two students decide to create something new and different out of their boxcar set.
This story will inspire children to develop the courage to be unconventional thinkers and innovators!
by Megan Maynor (Author), Kaylani Juanita (Illustrator)
A young artist's drawings rebel against her when she tries to put her sketched birds in houses that match how they look, but not how they feel in this hilarious picture book perfect for readers of Julian is a Mermaid and The Big Orange Splot.
A young artist has drawn birds and bird houses in corresponding colors. Now it's time to match them up. The blue bird goes in the blue house, the orange bird in the orange house, and so on. But wait! The birds don't agree with the narrator's choices and, much to her distress, are rebelling by swapping houses. Can the narrator make the birds see sense? Or is it possible that you just can't tell a bird by its feathers?
"This bighearted picture book delivers a worthwhile message with humor and great respect for young readers."--The Horn Book
Celeste Saves the City pulls readers into the life of a young girl forced to leave her beloved home as Hurricane Katrina threatens to flood New Orleans. Determined to make a difference in the future, she sets her sights on becoming a civil engineer and Celeste figures out how to protect the wetlands that slow down flood waters during bad storms and hurricanes.
Introducing readers to civil engineering while paying homage to the "Big Easy", this semi-autobiographical tale encourages children from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in STEM and elevates the need for continued efforts to protect coastal cities from the impact of catastrophic weather events.
