Amelia to Zora; 26 Women who Changed the World

Book Title: Amelia to Zora; 26 Women who Changed the World	Author:  Cynthia Chin-Lee
Illustrator:  Megan Halsey and Sean Addy	Awards
Book Type:  Picture	Approx. Reading Level:  5.8
Age of Content Appropriateness: grade 3 and up	Date Published: 2005
Genre and Topic: Biography, Women’s History,	Personal Rating of the Book:  5
ISBN: (13 or 10 digit) 9780545334532

Summary- This book is beautiful to look at.  The book is an alphabetical listing of women who made history – Amelia Earhert  starts it off and it finishes with one of my favorite authors of all time, Zora Neale Hurston.   Each page is devoted to a woman that represents that letter.  It gives a brief synopsis of her life and why she made history.  The illustrations are amazing. They are mixed media with collage being the dominant type.   

Ideas for using this book

·         This book could be used as a jumping off point for additional research on one of the women listed.  Students could use it to select a person to write and learn more about.

·         The illustrations would be great to use in an art class and could certainly inspire young artists to try collage mixed with other media.

·         Sean Addy (illustrator) facebook page  at this time I couldn’t locate a webpage but there are images of his work on the facebook page. 

·         Megan Halsey (illustrator) website- she offers some free printable game sheets that she created with her signature style.  There are also links to other things she does besides illustrations.  This would be a good page for career information.  What can an artist do?

·         I read this book using the Storia app from Scholastic.  It is an e-reader that is available through the scholastic website.  It would be easy to use this format on a smart board.  It could even be shown as a daily welcome to the room.  Have one woman up on the board to read about each day for 26 days.  The illustrations are so engaging that it could be left up during free time for students to explore.

Vocabulary

Persistence-(page 6) – The need to keep on trying, no matter what. 

Computer language- (page 10) – the secret code that is typed into a computer to tell it what to say or show on a page.

Activist- (page 15 and others)- a person who works hard to make changes they really truly believe will help make things better. 

Trait of the 6 + 1 Traits to Highlights

I would look at the organization of this book.  Each page begins with the letter and the name, much like other alphabet books. “J is for Jane” or “L is for Lena” and then we get a brief introduction to how they changed history.  In this section from Len Horne’s page we see how they describe clearly what she did, “Lena had the opportunity to work in Hollywood, so she moved from the East Coast to California.  However, she couldn’t get good parts and refused to take parts that portrayed blacks as menial.  Throughout her life, Lena has supported the civil rights movement by donating time and money to groups that promote equal treatment for people of all races.”  Each entry is followed by a quotation from that person.  In the case of Lena this is what is said, “You have to be taught to be second class, you’re not born that way.  Lena Horne”    This format is how each page is set up. 

Concerns with This Book: (if any) none