Brave and Bold: Real Life Heroines (and Heroes)

In the early 20th century, Clara Lemlick and her family immigrated to the United in search of a better life. The tough garment work in New York City didn’t deter Clara who persevered and helped better life for both women and men workers. A simple text combines with mixed media illustrations for a glimpse into early activism and unions.

Here’s the true story of how Anne Carroll Moore created the first children’s room at the New York Public Library — a bright, welcoming room filled with art, reading nooks, and (most importantly) borrowing privileges to the world’s best children’s books. The folk art style illustrations capture a sense of history in the making. In the end notes, you can learn more about Moore and other pioneering children’s librarians.

Mason is quietly determined to do his best in spite of the obstacles he faces. One of the few African American students in his school, Mason wins a typing contest on a manual typewriter. The author based this quietly triumphant story on her father’s experiences growing up in the 1960s. Realistic illustrations evoke the period and the place.

Ellen Prentiss “was born with saltwater in her veins” whose father taught her to sail and navigate on his trading schooner. When she married a man who also loved the sea, Ellen’s tenacity, her ability to read the sea and dare the win allowed them to sail from New York to San Francisco in 1851 in record-breaking time. A brief note about Ellen includes source notes.

Florence Nightingale was the daughter of a wealthy English family who was drawn to medicine and helping others. Her name has become synonymous with nursing and care for the unfortunate. Delicate, stylized illustrations and straightforward text chronicle her life, mitigating the wars and hardships she confronted while still suggesting them. 

Like her father, Mary Walker became a medical doctor. Unlike her father, however, Mary horrified people because she wanted to serve in the Union Army to help wounded soldiers as a doctor and wore pants. Mary’s story is dramatically presented in words and illustration, brought up to date in an afterward.

The friendship between Lafayette and Washington is dramatically told for sophisticated readers in a handsome picture book format. It began while the fledgling United States fought for its independence from Britain though it continued after the war. Additional information about the two men and the time in which they lived is included.

Sophisticated readers will appreciate the snippets of presidential history presented in a variety of poetic forms. Illustrations, reminiscent of political cartoons, range in tone from serious to silly. Additional information about the office and the individual presidents concludes this appealing and surprisingly informative collection (which includes the sitting POTUS).

This lively look at Thomas Jefferson’s lifelong obsession with books and reading is told with verve and humor. How Jefferson’s sizeable book collection came to reside at the Library of Congress brings both the man and his time into focus. Additional information about the man and his legacy as well as additional resources conclude this brief, fact-filled, engaging book.

As a young, sickly child, “Teedie” Roosevelt dreamed of becoming an adventurer like in the books he gobbled up. Lush, expressive illustrations, well-chosen quotes, and a lucid text brings the life of the boy who grew into a remarkable man whose biggest adventure may have been that of the 26th President of the United States.