From the monthly archives:
Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Orchard, 2002)
The first African-American woman airplane pilot’s story is told in approximately two-dozen fictionalized poems a.k.a. eulogies about her life.
PBS features a bio and photo of Coleman on their Fly Girls page.
Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief, with Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Gary Kelley (Viking Juvenile, 1999)
Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief tells the story of her own childhood up to her move to New York at seventeen in pursuit of a dance career.
A few images of Tallchief can be seen at The Ballerina Gallery.
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 2000)
This take-charge warrior queen effectively resisted slave traders in West Africa (present-day Angola), appointed women and influenced politics forty years and beyond.
Biographical info on Nzingha is available.
Also visit the Official Web Site of the Republic of Angola.
Steamboat! The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers by Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Holly Meade (DK, 2000)
Blanche Leathers didn’t listen when as a child she was told, “Girls don’t grow up to be steamboatmen.” America’s first woman steamboat captain proudly sailed the Mississippi River for years.
View a photo of a steamboat Captain Blanche Leathers commanded, on this link to the Tennessee Genealogy & History site.
Paul Cezanne: A Painter’s Journey by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by works from the National Gallery of Art (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2006)
French artist Cezanne and his work are featured in this introduction to this talented Post-Impressionist painter.
The National Gallery of Art exhibit, Cezanne in Provence, offers a chronology, images and background. Visit today!
Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll by Holly George-Warren, illustrated by Laura Levine (Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
In a page of text devoted to The Everly Brothers, readers learn Phil and his brother Don started out singing country but crossed over to rock and roll. Wake Up Little Susie was one of their biggest hits.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, a timeline and short bio of The Everly Brothers is posted at RockHall.com.
