The United States of America is often described as a melting pot. Today, our nation is a unique blend of citizens and immigrants of all nationalities and those numbers are increasing every day.
It is more important now than ever before to learn about people of different cultures. Children need to gain a different perspective other than their own while learning to appreciate members of their own cultures.
One way of learning about the diversity of our world is to read more books, especially those of historical personalities and their journeys.
There are a wide variety of picture book biographies for children waiting to be explored. According to author Esmé Raji Codell, “Listening to a picture book biography read aloud, introduces children to times, places and heroes.” Give these and other titles like them a try. In the words of Grace Hopper, “Our young people are the future. We must provide for them.”
A picture book chronicle of the life of children’s book pioneer John Newbery describes how he imagined books filled with stories, science, and games before becoming a celebrated author and publisher, changing the literary world forever.
A children’s book biography of Grace Hopper, who played a prominent role in the early days of computers. You can also check out this title as an eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies! But not everyone knows where they came from. Meet Ruth Wakefield, the talented chef and entrepreneur who started a restaurant, wrote a cookbook, and invented this delicious dessert. But just how did she do it, you ask? That s where things get messy!
A bilingual biography of Cuban national hero José Martí, who dedicated his life to the promotion of liberty for all men and women.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art work had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
A biography of James Van Der Zee, innovative and celebrated African American photographer of the Harlem Renaissance.