Sunday, December 16, 2012

Career advice for girls

Schools often have career days in which people from many walks of life come in to talk about what they do for a living.
It is my pleasure to introduce Girls Succeed: Stories Behind the Careers of Sucessful Women by J.Q. Rose.




The author thanks the women who freely gave her interviews because they hope to inspire girls to seek out the careers they want to pursue as adults.

The author belongs to one of my critique groups and I had the pleasure of reading these profiles at earlier stages. In addition, she was kind enough to provide me with a review copy.

How many little girls dream of being truck drivers when they grow up?
In this book they meet Barb Totten, a semi truck driver.

Here is a sample: "[Barb] drives a big rig with a fifty-three foot trailer. That would be like hauling two and  a half  pickup trucks behind her."

Do you know a little girl who loves chemistry and wants her own chemistry set?
That's what Juanita Merchant wanted when she was a girl. When she entered college, she was encouraged to join the Medical Science Training  Program at Yale University. She got her medical degree in gastroenterology, problems of the digestive tract. Today she works at the University of Michigan, where she sees patients and does medical research as well.  It wasn't easy for her. In addition to working hard at her studies,  she encountered people who thought she couldn't do it because she was African American. That didn't stop her.

J.Q. would love for readers to contact her and welcomes participation in this interactive e-book.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Timeless Thomas






Timeless Thomas:How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives by Gene Barretta is a useful look into what influences Edison contributed to our lives. This picturebook does not give biographical information. It goes straight into his adulthood and his two laboratories in New Jersey.

The author discusses techology in this manner: the left side of the spread is present day. The right side Edison's lab.

Here's a sample:

"Present Day- The photocopier and the tattoo needle seem to have nothing in common, Edison's Lab-Yet they wre both based on Edison's electric pen--it was the first motorized copier."

The book includes a list of employees who worked for Edison, including the mathematician Francis Upton. A good list for other class projects.

Also recommended are "Thomas Triva" and the bibliography.