Written by: Susan Hood
Illustrated by: 13 Extraordinary Women
For Ages: 4-12 years
Topics Covered: POC-Centric Narratives, Strong Women, Trailblazers, Activism, STEM, Diversity.
Summary: This book is awesome. It profiles 14 women and young girls that changed the world, and features a different artist illustrating each person. The women featured range from activists, a paleontologist, an astronaut, and scientists. Poetry on each page let’s the reader know the achievements of figures like the Secret Agent Nearne sisters, Frida Kahlo, and Annette Kellerman. This is a great book for a short story time, bedtime story, and as a jumping off point for a more in-depth unit about any of the topics covered.
About the Author & the Illustrator:
Susan Hood is the award-winning author of many picture books for young readers, including Ada’s Violin and Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World. She is the recipient of the 2017 E.B. White Honor Award, the 2017 Christopher Award, the 2017 Américas Award and the 2017 Bank Street Flora Steiglitz Straus Award, given to “a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people.” Before launching a full-time writing career, Susan was the Children’s Content Director of Nick Jr. Magazine, where she edited original stories by the winners of the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Book Award and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. Before that, Susan was a children’s book editor at Sesame Workshop, and a children’s magazine editor at Scholastic and Instructor Magazine for early childhood educators. While working as an editor, Susan wrote hundreds of children’s books for ages 1-8, including board books, concept books, interactive books, nonfiction and beginning readers. She has published books with Disney, Fisher Price, Penguin Putnam, Scholastic, Sesame Workshop and Simon & Schuster, among others. In addition to writing for children, she has written for parents and early childhood educators in The New York Times, Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect, Sesame Street Parent’s Guide, Working Mother and more.Susan lives with her family in Connecticut and enjoys spending the summer sailing with her husband along the New England coast. She is all too familiar with ocean storms and trouble at sea. Those experiences informed Susan’s first middle grade novel—Lifeboat 12—debuting September, 2018. Visit Susan at susanhoodbooks.com.
Sophie Blackall is the illustrator of many acclaimed picture books, including Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives Extraordinaire! by Polly Horvath, The Mighty Lalouche by Matthew Olshan, and The Baby Tree. Her artwork has also appeared in murals as part of the New York City MTA’s “Arts for Transit” program. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Emily Winfield Martin makes paintings, books & etceteras. She works in a tiny nook of a studio filled with treasures & old wind-up toys. Her work is inspired by fairy tales, music, myths, illustration from the late 19th through mid 20th century, her favorite films, and the natural world. She likes sea monsters and seashell-colored poppies & lives among the giant fir trees of Portland, OR.
Shadra Strickland studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University, and completed her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her work in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Shadra is passionate about promoting positivity through her work, and her ultimate goal as a picture book author and illustrator is to teach children how to live their dreams. Her style is a whimsical blend of reality and imagination, and she loves to create stories that children can see themselves in. Shadra travels the country conducting workshops and sharing her work with children, teachers, and librarians. She currently teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
Melissa Sweet has illustrated over 100 books as well as many toys, puzzles, games for eeBoo. Her work has been in magazines, on greeting cards and as drawings on her living room walls. She has written four books: Carmine: A Little More Red, a New York Times Best Illustrated book; Tupelo Rides the Rails; Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade, a Sibert Award winner (for informational books) and a NCTE Orbis Pictus winner (for nonfiction). Her most recent book, Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White, was a New York Times Best Seller and garnered an NCTE Orbis Pictus award. Melissa has illustrated three books by author Jen Bryant: A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams; The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, both garnered Caldecott Honors. A Splash of Red: The Art of Horace Pippin, was a Sibert Award and Orbis Pictus Award winner.
LeUyen Pham has voted in every single presidential election since she turned eighteen. She is the author and illustrator of A Piece of Cake, All the Things I Love About You, and Big Sister, Little Sister. She has illustrated many other picture books, including the New York Times bestsellers Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore. LeUyen lives with her husband and sons in California.
Oge Mora is a painter residing in Providence, RI. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) with a degree in Illustration. She’s a fan of all things colorful, patterned, or collaged, and she enjoys creating warm stories that celebrate people coming together. Her very first picture book, Thank You, Omu! debuts in Fall 2018.
Julie Morstad is the author and illustrator of many beautiful picture books, including Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Julie makes her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she lives with her husband and three children.
Lisa Brown draws things like illustration and comics, writes things like books and book reviews, and teaches things to kids and college students. Her debut picture book, How to Be, was one of the Thirteen Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy. Since then she has published a ton more books, including Vampire Boy’s Good Night and The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, a New York Times bestseller by elusive author Lemony Snicket. She co-authored Picture the Dead, an illustrated young adult novel, with acclaimed writer Adele Griffin, and created the award-winning Baby Be of Use series of board books for McSweeney’s. Lisa draws the Three Panel Book Review cartoon strip, and is a comics contributor at The Rumpus. She teaches illustration at the California College of the Arts, and is a long-time workshop instructor and field trip leader at the 826 Valencia tutoring center. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son, but can usually be found wandering around the internet.
It is no wonder that award-winning writer-illustrator Selina Alko now spends her days melding words and mixed-media art to convey stories of hope and inspiration—as well as an alternative viewpoint. Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia with a Turkish father who spoke seven languages and taught painting, and a mother who worked in the family’s century old metal recycling business, she was surrounded by the melody of words and stories from different places, and varied visual possibilities; her affinity for working with words and art was established early on, as was an interest in establishing a creative family environment that encouraged personal expression. The skills her parents imparted to her as a child, the creative environment that supported them, and the diverse world view she was privy to have inspired and fueled her ever since, and they are evident in her books such as The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage which she co-created with her husband Sean Qualls; Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt and co-illustrated with Qualls; and B is for Brooklyn which she wrote and illustrated herself. Selina continues to find inspiration in the world around her whether it’s the streets of Brooklyn where she has lived for more than 20 years, her native Canada, or the small but universal experiences of a child as she watches her kids grow up. When she’s not working on a new project, Selina enjoys reading, collaging in her sketchbook and dance-walking in Prospect Park.
Hadley Hooper lives in Denver and works as an illustrator and painter. She is groundskeeper, gallery coordinator and co-owner of Ironton Studios. She is co-founder and board member of the River North Art District, RiNo for short. Her illustration work is repped by Marlena Agency and her paintings can be found at Goodwin Fine Art. She lives in an old house in a now-trendy Denver neighborhood with Hugh Graham and Maddie the dog.
Isabel Roxas is an illustrator, designer, ceramicist and avid reader. She was born in Manila, Philippines, was raised on luscious mangoes, old wives’ tales, and monsoon moons. She now works in the backroom of an art gallery in Manhattan where she writes and illustrates stories, designs books and creates small objects in clay and resin. She has illustrated several books for young readers, including Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown (Sterling Books, 2014), Let Me Finish! by Minh Lê (Disney-Hyperion) and Day at the Market by May Tobias-Papa (Adarna House, 2008), winner of the Philippine National Book Award. Isabel is a frequent contributor to Babybug and Ladybug Magazine. Her work has been recognized by American Illustration, HOW Magazine and 3×3 Magazine of Contemporary Illustration.Her latest picture book, The Littlest Viking written by Alexandra Penfold (Knopf) is available in stores now. Follow her on Twitter @studioroxas and Instagram @studioroxas.
Creative Visionary Erin Robinson is a Fashion Designer by trade but also a trained fine artist from Parsons School of Design and the Corcoran School of Art. Her daydreamy, magical imagination is inspired by travel, color, texture, the feminine shape and the many shades and coifs of Brooklyn. She works in a variety of mediums that include watercolor, ink, markers, charcoal, stencil, collage as well as digital artistry. She is an EMMY nominated illustrator for The Obama Story in the News and Documentary category. What an achievement! The New York Times and Washington Post keep this artist busy!
Sara Palacios studied Graphic Design at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico DF, and has an Associate Degree in Graphic Production Techniques from the School of Design, INBA (National Institute of Fine Arts) in Mexico. She also has an Associate Degree in Illustration from the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, as well as a BFA and MFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She has been a part time faculty member at the Academy of Art University since 2014. She is the recipient of the 2012 Pura Belpré Illustration Honor Award and the 2013 Tejas Star Book Award.