Readers K-2

Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter

Author: Aida Salazar

Description:

Jovita dreamed of wearing pants like her brothers, Ramón and Luciano.

She hated the way the big skirts that Abuela made her wear tangled around her legs as she scaled the tallest mesquite tree in Rancho Palos Blancos. She wanted to ride her horse Morongo and feel the wind curl her face into a smile.

When her father and brothers joined the Cristeros War to fight for the right to practice religion freely, she wanted to help. Though she wasn’t allowed to fight, that didn’t stop her from learning the terrain and observing how her father strategized. Then tragedy struck, compelling Jovita to cut her hair, put on pants, and continue the fight. Disguised as a man, she commanded a battalion who followed her without question.

Jovita Wore Pants is the story of a trailblazing revolutionary, passionately told by Amricas Award winner, Aida Salazar, and illustrated by Eisner Award honoree Molly Mendoza.

Readers 3-5

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

Author: Debbie Levy

Description:

Get to know celebrated Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—in the first picture book about her life—as she proves that disagreeing does not make you disagreeable!

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what’s right for people everywhere. This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.

Readers 6-8

The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life

Author: Amy Butler Greenfield

Description:

The true story about an American woman who pioneered codebreaking in WWI and WWII but was only recently recognized for her extraordinary contributions.

Elizebeth Smith Friedman always had a penchant for solving riddles. It was this skill, and a desire to do something with her life that led her to become one of the top cryptanalysts in America during both World War I and II. She originally came to codebreaking through her love for Shakespeare when she was hired by an eccentric billionaire to prove that Shakespeare's plays had secret messages in them and were written by Frances Bacon. Though she came to the conclusion that there were not any secret messages in the plays, she learned so much about coding that she went on to play a major role in decoding messages during WWI and WWII and also for the US Coast Guard's own war against smugglers. Elizebeth and her husband, William, became the top codebreaking team in the US, and she did it all at a time when women weren't a welcome presence in the workforce.