Fascinating Women

A Is for Audra: Broadway's Leading Ladies from A to Z By John Robert Allman; illustrated by Peter Emmerich

Step into the spotlight and celebrate a cavalcade of Broadway’s legendary ladies. Start with “A” for six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, then sing and dance your way through the alphabet with beloved entertainers like Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Lea Salonga, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara, and Liza Minnelli!

Broadway fans and theater lovers everywhere will give a standing ovation to this one-of-a-kind tribute full of toe-tapping rhymes, with illustrations as bright and beautiful as the shining lights on any marquee.

Amelia Lost By Candace Fleming

Featured in the upcoming National Geographic documentary, Expedition Amelia! This is a critically acclaimed look at the life, disappearance, and search for the legendary aviatrix, Amelia Earhart.

On May 21, 1937, the most famous female pilot of all time, Amelia Earhart, set out to do the impossible: circumnavigate the globe at its widest point--27,000 miles in all. Just six weeks later, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Eighty years have passed since that fateful flight; and still, Amelia's plane has never been found. Discover the thrilling life and tragic end of America's most famous trailblazing flier with this impeccably researched and masterfully crafted book from acclaimed author Candace Fleming.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

Named a Best Book of the Year by:
The Washington Post
School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews

Bold & Brave By Kirsten Gillibrand; illustrated by Maira Kalman

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was inspired by her own great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother to be bold and brave–to stand up and fight for what she believes in. But who inspired them? The long chain of women before them who spoke out for what’s right–women who taught each generation that followed how to be bold and brave.

Here are the stories of ten leaders who strove to win the right to vote for American women–a journey that took more than seventy years of passionate commitment. From well-known figures, such as Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth to lesser known women such as Alice Paul and Mary Church Terrell, these are heroes who dreamed big and never gave up. Senator Gillibrand highlights an important and pithy lesson from each woman’s life–from “dare to be different” to “fight together.”

Brave. Black. First. By Cheryl Willis Hudson; illustrated by Erin K. Robinson

Harriet Tubman guided the way.
Rosa Parks sat for equality.
Aretha Franklin sang from the soul.
Serena Williams bested the competition.
Michelle Obama transformed the White House.
Black women everywhere have changed the world!

Published in partnership with curators from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, this illustrated biography compilation captures the iconic moments of fifty African American women whose heroism and bravery rewrote the American story for the better.

They were fearless. They were bold. They were game changers.

Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton By Margaret McNamara; illustrated by Esmé Shapiro; afterword by Phillipa Soo

We all know the story of scrappy Alexander Hamilton and his rise in American politics–but how much do we know about his workmate, inspiration, and stabilizing force, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton? Margaret McNamara employs the letter-writing style of the period to tell the story of Eliza Hamilton, who was born into a family of considerable wealth, power, and influence in Albany, New York, in 1757. Eliza was expected to marry into a similarly powerful family . . . until she met and fell in love with the charismatic Hamilton. She stood by him throughout his tumultuous life, and after his death, she single-handedly collected his papers and preserved them for historians and musical-theater writers of the future. Eliza outlived Hamilton by fifty years; during that time she founded the first orphanage in New York State, raised funds for the Washington Monument, and kept the flame of her husband’s memory and achievements alive. Featuring Esme Shapiro’s exquisite, thoroughly researched art, which mirrors paintings from 18th-century America, this is a beautiful and informative biography with extensive back matter.

Mama Mable's All-Gal Big Band Jazz Extravaganza! By Annie Sieg

Everyone knows about Rosie the Riveter, the icon for working women during World War II. Now prepare to meet a group of young women who did the same for music! From saxophonists and drummers to trumpeters, pianists, trombonists, and singers, talented young women across the country picked up their instruments–and picked up the spirits of an entire nation–during the dark days of World War II. Together they formed racially integrated female bands and transformed the look and sound of jazz, taking important strides for all women in the world of music. Debut author-illustrator Annie Sieg shines a spotlight on the young women who epitomized the sound and spirit of jazz of the era, while opening young readers’ eyes and ears to the role of women then and now in music.

Margaret and the Moon By Dean Robbins; illustrated by Lucy Knisley

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! She handwrote code that would allow the spacecraft’s computer to solve any problems it might encounter. Apollo 8. Apollo 9. Apollo 10. Apollo 11. Without her code, none of those missions could have been completed.

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When Beverley Bass was a young girl in the late 1950s, she told her parents she wanted to fly planes–and they told her that girls couldn’t be pilots. Still, they encouraged her, and brought her to a nearby airport to watch the planes take off and land.

After decades of refusing to take no for an answer, in 1986 Beverley became the first female pilot promoted to captain by American Airlines and led the first all-female crewed flight shortly thereafter. Her revolutionary career became even more newsworthy when she was forced to land in the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to US airspace closures. After several days there, she flew her crew and passengers safely home.

Beverley’s incredible life is now immortalized in the hit Broadway musical Come from Away. Here, discover how she went from an ambitious young girl gazing up at the sky to a groundbreaking pilot smiling down from the cockpit.