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SuperWomen Defying Difference (1)
SuperWomen Defying Difference: a reading ladder for inspiring, challenging and triumphant stories of female characters for grades 4-8. Many of these titles are available at the First Book Marketplace and at the Detroit Public Library.
| Name | Author and location | categories | diversity and accuracy | summary |
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks |
Levinson, Cynthia, The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Fay Hendricks, Atheneum Books For Young Readers, New York, NY, 2017. | Readability: Grades 3+
Interest Level: Grades 1-5 Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Book, Biography |
Diversity: Contains historical figures from the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Accuracy: The book includes a biography of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a timeline of historical events, photos documenting the events, a list of sources, and recipe! |
Summary: Audrey Faye Hendricks in 9 years old when she responds to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to march in the streets. She is the youngest person jailed, and learns a lot about freedom and the fight for civil rights. |
El Deafo  |
Bell, Cece. El Deafo, Abrams, New York, NY, 2014.
First Book, DPL |
Readability: grades 3+
Interest level: grades 3-8 Genres: Nonfiction, Graphic Novel |
Includes a bunny, but one who uses a hearing aid.
Accuracy: It is fiction, but written by someone who grew up with a hearing disability. |
Centers on Cece, the animated version of the author, a bunny with a hearing aid. Cece wants to make friends, but is having trouble. Her hearing aid gives her the power to hear things beyond the classroom, developing her new identity: El Deafo. Through her powers, she develops the skills to become social and find true friendship. |
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World  |
Lee-Chin, Cynthia, Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World, Charlesbridge Publishing, Watertown, MA, 2005 First Book, DPL |
Readability: grades 4+
Interest Level: grades 2-8 Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Book |
Includes women from cultures across the world, representing different races, nationalities, religions, and skill sets.
Accuracy: Includes a bibliography and was nominated for many awards, including NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People and was listed in Book Links The Best New Books for the Classroom |
Chin-Lee profiles 26 powerful, world-changing women in alphabetical order, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each woman receives a brief 2-paragraph biography along with a quote. The artwork is interesting, utilizing collage styles that give a multi-dimensional feel to the pages and provide a visual story that supports the texts. |
For The Right To Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story  |
Langston-George, Rebecca, For The Right To Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story, Capstone Press, North Mankato, Minnesota, 2016. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grade 3+
Interest Level: Grades 3-8 Genres: Nonfiction, picture book, biography |
Diversity: Includes Pakistani culture.
Accuracy: Includes a glossary, index, references and links to a bibliography. |
Malala Yousafzai is determined to continue her education despite the new rules of the Taliban. The book takes readers through Malala’s heroic and life-altering bus ride to her international spotlight as a defender of education for girls and women, |
The Red Pencil  |
Pinkney, Andrea Davis, The Red Pencil, Little Brown and Company, Boston, MA, 2014. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grade 5+
Interest Level: Grade 4-8 Genres: Historical Fiction, Poetry, Verse, artwork, Novel |
Features Sudanese culture and differently abled people.
Accuracy: While fiction, the books includes a glossary of terms and pronunciations, a map of surrounding Sudan and Darfur for reference, a discussion guide, and a snippet of another historical fiction title to entice young readers. |
Amira is a 12-year old Sudanese girl who longs for school and spends her days growing wheat and mangos with her family until war destroys her village. She flees to a refugee camp and ceases speaking until a woman hands her a pencil and pad. She begins communicating again through wonderful drawings, finds her voice, and learns to read and write. |
The Lion of Little Rock |
Levine, Kristin, The Lions of Little Rock, G.P. Putman’s Sons, New York, NY, 2012. | Readability: Grade 6+
Interest Level: Grades 5-8 Genres: Historical fiction, Novel, Narrative |
Diversity: Centers on nine African American students integrating an all-white school.
Accuracy: Contains a summary of the events and historical facts of the 1958 integration of a Little Rock school. |
Marlee is 13, loves math, and has a fear of speaking in public. Just makes a friend who she feels comfortable to speak with, Marlee is removed from school because she is Black. The book chronicles the friendship and fight for educational rights. |
 A is for activist |
Nagara, Innosanto, A is for Activist, Seven Stories Press, New York, NY, 2013. Source Booksellers |
Readability: Grade 5+
Interest Level: Grades 5-12 Genres: ABC Board Book, Alphabet Poetry, Picture Book |
Diversity: Teaches language useful to conversations about diversity, identity, and activism
Accuracy: This is a left-leaning book that can serve a visual vocabulary basis for terms or themes found in this reading ladder. The books does not give definitions, but rather verse that hints at each word’s contextual relevance |
Summary: Learn vocabulary associated with activism through the alphabet. Each page contains beautiful artwork featuring a diversity of skin tones, physical abilities, and historical icons. |
| Nimona
|
Stevenson, Noelle, Nimona, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, NY, 2015. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grade 5+
Interest Level: Grades 6-12 Genres: Fiction, Graphic Novel |
Diversity: Includes characters of different abilities, gender-shifting, and suggestions of non-heteronormative sexuality.
Accuracy: Fiction |
Summary: Nimona is a spit-fire shape-shifting aspiring super villain. She apprentices for her super villain hero, but when an environmental attack ensues, Nimona realizes the bad guys might actually be the good guys. She makes the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone and expose bioterrorists. |
Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography
|
Colon, Ernie; Jacobson, Sid, Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography, Hill and Wang, New York, NY, 2010. | Readability: Grade 5+
Interst Level: Grades 6-12 Genres: Nonfiction, Graphic Novel, Biography |
Diversity: Features culture and history of Jews.
Accuracy: Combines history and memoir backed by the Anne Frank House. |
Summary: The book follows the story of Anne Frank and includes information and illustrations and photographs of Nazi propaganda, historical events, and biographic information. |
| Runway Blackout
|
Betts, Tara, “Runway Blackout,” Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, pg. 167, AK Press, Oakland, CA, 2015. DPL |
Readability: Grade 6+
Interest Level: Grades 6-12 Accuracy: Science Fiction Genres: Short story, Science Fiction, Afrofuturism |
Diversity: The story centers on race and racial features.
Accuracy: Science Fiction |
Summary: Shape-shifting models of African features who begin shifting into more European features to appease the fashion industry. The story is told through the employee of one of the most famous and successful supermodels, Viole. Fed up with the industry’s racism, Viole calls for a boycott, but not everyone is with her. |
March Book I |
Aydin, Andrew; Lewis, John, March Book One, Top Shelf Productions, Marietta, GA, 2013. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grades 6+
Interest Level: Grades 6-12 Genres: Graphic Novel, Nonfiction, Biography |
Diversity: Includes historical depictions of voting rights advocates and leaders, was well as dissenters.
Accuracy: Includes a biography of the authors. |
Summary: John Lewis chronicles the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s role in the fight for voting rights. The book includes many female civil rights leaders: Fannie Lou Hammer, Denise Nash, Rosa Parks, and Bernice Johnson to name a few. |
 March Book II |
Aydin, Andrew; Lewis, John, March Book Two, Top Shelf Productions, Marietta, GA, 2015. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grades 6+
Interest Level: Grades 6-12 Genres: Graphic Novel, Nonfiction, Biography |
Diversity: Includes historical depictions of voting rights advocates and leaders, was well as dissenters.
Accuracy: Includes a biography of the authors. |
Summary: John Lewis chronicles the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s role in the fight for voting rights. The book includes many female civil rights leaders: Fannie Lou Hammer, Denise Nash, Rosa Parks, and Bernice Johnson to name a few. |
March Book III |
Aydin, Andrew; Lewis, John, March Book Three, Top Shelf Productions, Marietta, GA, 2016. First Book, DPL |
Readability: Grades 6+
Interest Level: Grades 6-12 Genres: Graphic Novel, Nonfiction, Biography |
Diversity: Includes historical depictions of voting rights advocates and leaders, was well as dissenters.
Accuracy: Includes a biography of the authors. |
Summary: John Lewis chronicles the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s role in the fight for voting rights. The book includes many female civil rights leaders: Fannie Lou Hammer, Denise Nash, Rosa Parks, and Bernice Johnson to name a few. |
 I am Malala |
Lamb, Christina; Yousafzai, Malala, I Am Malala, Little Brown and Company, New York, NY, 2013. First Book, DPL |
Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Novel. | Diversity: Centers on Pakistani culture.
Accuracy: Autobiography. |
Summary: The biography of young activist for education rights for women, Malala Yousafzai. The book chronicles her life from birth to young international speaker. |
Shawntai G. Brown 