This March, Valley of the Tetons Library celebrates Women’s History month by celebrating groundbreaking women in the sciences for teens & kids.
Do you know how many things you use every day were invented by women? This book takes a deep dive into things made by female inventors, including many things you probably use on a daily basis. There are even some kid inventors featured! –from the publisher
This definitive biography of Rosa Parks accessibly examines her six decades of activism, challenging young readers’ perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement. –from the publisher
Someone to remind the politicians to step in to protect the environment–and the future of children all over the world. It was an emergency. Everything else could wait. So Greta made a sign, put on her jacket, and went on strike. –from the publisher
Marie Curie stunned the scientific world when her research uncovered two elements, polonium and radium. This accessible graphic biography gives readers a look at her collaborations with Pierre Curie, her medical work during World War I, and more. –from the publisher
As a girl coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement, Patricia Bath made it her mission to become a doctor. When obstacles like racism, poverty, and sexism threatened this goal, she persevered–brightening the world with a game-changing treatment for blindness. –from the publisher
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code tells the riveting story of a trailblazing woman. Grace Hopper coined the term computer bug and taught computers to speak English. Throughout her life, Hopper succeeded in doing what no one had ever done before. –from the publisher
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as “Human Computers,” calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these “colored computers,” as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America’s fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. –from the publisher
Women in Science celebrates the achievements of the intrepid women who have paved the way for the next generation of female engineers, biologists, mathematicians, doctors, astronauts, physicists, and more! –from the publisher
In the 1960s, locked in a heated race to launch the first human into space, the United States selected seven superstar test pilots and former military air fighters to NASA’s astronaut class — the Mercury 7. The men endured grueling training and constant media attention for the honor of becoming America’s first space heroes. But a group of 13 women — accomplished air racers, test pilots, and flight instructors — were enduring those same astronaut tests in secret, hoping to defy social norms and earn a spot among the stars. –from the publisher
Back in the days of long skirts and afternoon teas, young Joan Procter entertained the most unusual party guests: slithery and scaly ones, who turned over teacups and crawled past the crumpets…. While other girls played with dolls, Joan preferred the company of reptiles. She became the Curator of Reptiles at the British Museum. She went on to design the Reptile House at the London Zoo, including a home for the rumored-to-be-vicious komodo dragons. There, just like when she was a little girl, Joan hosted children’s tea parties–with her komodo dragon as the guest of honor. –from the publisher
Ada had a passion for science, math, and machines. She hoped that one day she could do something important with her creative and nimble mind. A hundred years before the dawn of the digital age, Ada Lovelace envisioned the computer-driven world we know today. She would go down in history as Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer. –from the publisher
Margaret Hamilton loved numbers as a young girl. She knew how many miles it was to the moon (and how many back). She loved studying algebra and geometry and calculus and using math to solve problems in the outside world. Soon math led her to MIT and then to helping NASA put a man on the moon! Without her code, none of those missions could have been completed. –from the publisher
Dr. Temple Grandin is not only an amazing woman in science, she is also a person who has autism. What many people viewed as a setback allowed her to see things in a different way and create innovations that have improved agriculture and farming all over the world. –from the publisher
Sylvia Earle first lost her heart to the ocean as a young girl when she discovered the wonders of the Gulf of Mexico in her backyard. As an adult, she dives even deeper. Whether she’s designing submersibles, swimming with the whales, or taking deep-water walks, Sylvia Earle has dedicated her life to learning more about what she calls “the blue heart of the planet.” –from the publisher
Mae wanted to be an astronaut. She dreamed of dancing in space. She imagined herself surrounded by billions of stars. Her parents encouraged her, saying, “If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible.” This encouragement, along with Mae’s own curiosity, intelligence, and determination, paved the way for her to become the first African American woman to travel in space. –from the publisher
Katherine Olivia Sessions never thought she’d live in a place without trees. After all, Kate grew up among the towering pines and redwoods of Northern California. But after becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of California with a degree in science, she took a job as a teacher far south in the dry desert town of San Diego where there were almost no trees. This trailblazing young woman singlehandedly started a massive movement that transformed the town into the green, garden-filled oasis it is today. –from the publisher
In the Middle Ages, people believed that insects were evil, born from mud in a process called spontaneous generation. Maria Merian was only a child, but she disagreed. She watched carefully as caterpillars spun themselves cocoons, which opened to reveal summer birds, or butterflies and moths. Maria studied the whole life cycle of the summer birds, and documented what she learned in vibrant paintings. This is the story of one young girl who took the time to observe and learn, and in so doing disproved a theory that went all the way back to ancient Greece. –from the publisher
Follow Jane from her childhood in London watching a robin on her windowsill, to her years in the African forests of Gombe, Tanzania, invited by brilliant scientist Louis Leakey to observe chimps, to her worldwide crusade to save these primates now in danger of extinction, and their habitat. Young animal lovers and Winter’s many fans will welcome this fascinating and moving portrait of an extraordinary person and the animals to whom she has dedicated her life. –from the publisher
Wangari lives in the lush, green, land of rural Kenya where the soil is perfect for planting, the trees tower into the sky, and the streams are full of mysterious creatures. Then Wangari grows up and goes away to school, and things start changing at home. Farmers chop down the trees. Landslides bury the stream. The soil becomes overworked and dry, and nothing will grow. People go hungry. After all her studies, Dr. Wangari Maathai realizes there is a simple solution to these problems: plant trees. –from the publisher