The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague
10 best books like The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague (Julia Finley Mosca): Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery, Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Early Elementary Story Books, Children's Music Books, Biography Books for Kids), Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala, Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind, Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968, Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams, Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13, So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom, Strange Fruit, Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
| Author | Sandra Neil Wallace |
| ISBN | 1481443879 |
Discover the true story of NFL star Ernie Barnes—a boy who followed his dreams and became one of the most influential artists of his generations—with this beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book.
When Ernie Barnes was growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s, he loved to draw....
| Author | Laura Veirs |
| ISBN | 1452148570 |
This lyrical, loving picture book from popular singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elizabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.
Elizabeth Cotten was only a little...
Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala
| Author | Lina Maslo |
| ISBN | 0062560778 |
The inspiring true story of Malala Yousafzai, human rights activist and the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, from debut author/illustrator Lina Maslo.
When Malala Yousafzai was born, some people shook their heads because girls were considered bad luck. But her father looked...
A touching story about Japanese American children who corresponded with their beloved librarian while they were imprisoned in World War II internment camps.
When Executive Order 9066 is enacted after the attack at Pearl Harbor, children's librarian Clara Breed's young Japanese American...
| Author | Alice Faye Duncan |
| ISBN | 1629797189 |
This historical fiction picture book presents the story of nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson, who in 1968 witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final stand for justice before his assassination--when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest.
In...
An ALA Notable Book
“This lovingly crafted picture book biography centers on the incredible bond between Venus and Serena Williams…An important selection for biography and sports collections.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
“Will appeal to children and...
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
| Author | Helaine Becker |
| ISBN | 1250137527 |
The story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA during the space race and was depicted in the book and film Hidden Figures.
You've likely heard of the historic Apollo 13 moon landing. But do you know about the mathematical genius who made sure that Apollo...
| Author | Gary D. Schmidt |
| ISBN | 1626728720 |
Her biography is absolutely breathtaking artwork combined with a thoughtful sentence interspersed throughout a lengthier picture book biography that educates those that don't know how influential she was as a "first female", one that made a tremendous impact and was listed in Smithsonian magazine's...
| Author | Gary Golio |
| ISBN | 1467751235 |
This is a tough one. “Strange Fruit,” a protest song about the lynching of Black Americans, was Billie Holiday’s powerful signature. In concert and on record, her rendition was chilling and emotional.
So, Gary Golio’s attempt to develop a picture book based on Billie Holiday’s...
| Author | Cheryl Bardoe |
| ISBN | 0316394289 |
The true story of eighteenth-century mathematician Sophie Germain, who solved the unsolvable to achieve her dream.
When her parents took away her candles to keep their young daughter from studying math...nothing stopped Sophie. When a professor discovered that the homework sent to him...
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2017
Parents’ Choice Recommended
Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect’s life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.
Zaha Hadid grew up...
| Author | Jeanne Walker Harvey |
As a child, Maya Lin loved to study the spaces around her. She explored the forest in her backyard, observing woodland creatures, and used her house as a model to build tiny towns out of paper and scraps. The daughter of a clay artist and a poet, Maya grew up with art and learned to think with her hands as well...
| Author | Don Tate |
| ISBN | 1600602606 |
Growing up as an enslaved boy on an Alabama cotton farm, Bill Traylor worked all day in the hot fields. When slavery ended, Bill's family stayed on the farm as sharecroppers. There Bill grew to manhood, raised his own family, and cared for the land and his animals.
By 1935 Bill was eighty-one and...
| Author | Robert Burleigh |
| ISBN | 1481416006 |
Filled with gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Raúl Colón, this illustrated biography shares the story of female scientist, Marie Tharp, a pioneering woman scientist and the first person to ever successfully map the ocean floor.
Marie Tharp was always fascinated by the ocean....
| Author | Michael S. Bandy |
| ISBN | 0763665932 |
Based on the true story of one family’s struggle for voting rights in the Civil Rights–era South, this moving tale shines an emotional spotlight on a dark facet of U.S. history.
Life on the farm with Granddaddy is full of hard work, but despite all the chores, Granddaddy always makes time...
| Author | Andrea J. Loney |
| ISBN | 1620142600 |
James Van Der Zee was just a young boy when he saved enough money to buy his first camera. He took photos of his family, classmates, and anyone who would sit still for a portrait. By the fifth grade, James was the school photographer and unofficial town photographer. Eventually he outgrew his small town...
| Author | Tanya Lee Stone |
| ISBN | 0805090495 |
I really admire Jane Addams. For a semester in college (in-between majoring in English literature and psychology) I took classes in sociology and studied her in depth. I either learned more from this book, or more likely relearned some of what I learned back then. She was a remarkable woman.
This...
| Author | Sue Macy |
| ISBN | 1481401203 |
From beloved author Sue Macy comes an illustrated biography of Mary Garber, one of the first female sports journalists in American history!
While sitting in the bleachers of a Soap Box Derby in the 1950s, Mary Garber overheard two African-American boys in the following exchange: “See that...
| Author | Donna Janell Bowman |
| ISBN | 1620141485 |
William -Doc- Key had a special way with animals. Growing up enslaved in Tennessee, Doc was sent to plantations around the state to care for sick and wounded animals. When the Civil War ended and Doc was freed, he began to dream of breeding a winning racehorse. But those dreams were dashed when his colt...
| Author | Annette Bay Pimentel |
The inspiring story of the first female to run the Boston Marathon comes to life in stunningly vivid collage illustrations.
Because Bobbi Gibb is a girl, she's not allowed to run on her school's track team. But after school, no one can stop her--and she's free to run endless miles to her heart's...
| Author | Selina Alko |
| ISBN | 0545478537 |
For most children these days it would come as a great shock to know that before 1967, they could not marry a person of a race different from their own. That was the year that the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loving v. Virginia.
This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard...
Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers' Journey from Slave to Artist
| Author | Barbara Herkert |
| ISBN | 0385754620 |
Harriet Powers learned to sew and quilt as a young slave girl on a Georgia plantation. She lived through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and eventually owned a cotton farm with her family, all the while relying on her skills with the needle to clothe and feed her children.
Later she began...
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History
| Author | Walter Dean Myers |
| ISBN | 0060277092 |
In this picture book biography, the late New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and acclaimed artist Floyd Cooper take readers on an inspiring journey through the life of Frederick Douglass.
Frederick Douglass was a self-educated slave in the South who grew up to become...
| Author | Nancy Churnin |
| ISBN | 1939547342 |
The tale of Manjhi Moves a Mountain is an inspiration for everyone to never give up on achieving what you dream. Even if it takes several years before you were able to achieve it, never lose hope and just continue what you're doing.
I was astonished that this children's story book is based...
