Celebrate GIRLS AND WOMEN IN STEM Day With Some Great Books.

Today is  a day to honor and recognize the amazing women engineers, scientists, and mathematicians who achieved success in their fields when women were not encouraged to do so. These pioneers persevered and achieved some remarkable accomplishments in the scientific and mathematical community. They continue to inspire girls and young women today by opening the doors for careers in science and engineering.

Here are three books that highlight some of these remarkable women of STEM.

Born in China in the early 1900s when girls weren’t routinely educated and women weren’t welcomed in science, Wu Chien Shiung was not a likely candidate to become a world-renowned physicist. But because of her supportive parents and her own determination, she pursued her passion for physics first in her homeland and then in the United States where she received her Ph.D. Fighting both racism and sexism through her career in the U.S., she still managed to do top-notch research, helping several other physicists win Nobel Prizes. She, herself, won the prestigious Wolf Prize, the Israeli equivalent to the Nobel. During her lifetime, she helped many girls go into STEM.

QUEEN OF PHYSICS is written by Teresa Robeson.

Teresa Robeson 何顥思
Winner of APALA Award, co-Regional Advisor: IN-SCBWI

http://teresarobeson.com

CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER by Laurie Wallmark Elizebeth Friedman is different than most of the other women in STEM I’ve written about. Unlike them, she didn’t tinker with inventions as a child. She didn’t even especially like math and science. She was more interested in studying English and foreign languages. So how did Elizebeth’s codebreaking skills help change the course of two world wars? Well, it turns out Elizebeth was exceptionally good at recognizing patterns. That, combined with her linguistic ability, gave her an almost superhuman ability to crack codes.  www.lauriewallmark.com

COUNTING ON KATHERINE: HOW KATHERINE JOHNSON SAVED APOLLO 13 by Helaine Becker.

The bold story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA during the space race and was depicted in the film Hidden Figures.

You’ve likely heard of the historic Apollo 13 moon landing. But do you know about the mathematical genius who made sure that Apollo 13 returned safely home?

As a child, Katherine Johnson loved to count. She counted the steps on the road, the number of dishes and spoons she washed in the kitchen sink, everything! Boundless, curious, and excited by calculations, young Katherine longed to know as much as she could about math, about the universe.

From Katherine’s early beginnings as a gifted student to her heroic accomplishments as a prominent mathematician at NASA, Counting on Katherine is the story of a groundbreaking American woman who not only calculated the course of moon landings but, in turn, saved lives and made enormous contributions to history.

Helaine Becker  is the author of more than 70 award-winning books for children including You Can Read, Worms for Breakfast: How to Feed a Zoo, Monster Science and Counting on Katherine. She loves science, books and ice cream, but not necessarily in that order.

Teresa Robeson Presents:QUEEN OF PHYSICS – her debut picture book + a giveaway.

Today it is my pleasure to feature children’s book author TERESA ROBESON with her debut picture book QUEEN OF PHYSICS about an unknown physicist who helped unlock the secrets of the atom. Here’s Teresa to tell you how it came about.

Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about my debut book, Darlene!

I think it’s pretty common knowledge that though I don’t have an advance degree in physics, it’s my passion-hobby. It started with astrophysics, but I’m now just as intrigued with quantum and particle physics.

I can’t remember where I first heard of or read about Wu Chien Shiung, the Chinese American physicist who is the subject of my biography, but I was immediately taken by her since she was of the same cultural heritage and had the same love of physics.

So I researched her a bit more and drafted a picture book manuscript. After honing it for a while, I submitted it to a few places but got no bites. Then I did something one should never do: whine on social media about it. LOL! Someone I met in the 12×12 Picture Book Challenge saw my tweet (I was kind of mortified since I always thought nobody read my tweet back then) and offered to critique it. She then confessed that she is training to be a literary agent and wanted to take me on as her first client.

Sadly, she was never able to sell the story and quit the agenting business after only a year.

A year and a half rolled by and I was rather depressed that my story had gone nowhere. But then Jane Yolen (!!!) picked my story to as the nonfiction winner in the We Need Diverse Books mentorship program. Jane is a masterful teacher who guides with deep knowledge but lets you make your own choices. I attended the NESCBWI conference in the spring of 2017 so I could meet her in person.

Through the conference, I submitted the mentored version of that story to a number of editors. Christina Pulles, who was then with Sterling, expressed an interest in my manuscript. With that interest, I approached a number of agents and ended up signing with Natascha Morris of Bookends Literary.

And, finally, about two years after Christina expressed her interest, my book will be born!

Things I want the world to know about Wu Chien Shiung:

1) Despite facing racism and sexism, Wu persevered.

2) Wu always gave every task she undertook all her attention and effort.

3) In her later career, Wu used her knowledge of nuclear physics to work on treatment for sickle cell disease.

Teresa Robeson draws upon her Chinese heritage, Canadian-American sensibilities, as well as her background in science and love of nature when she writes. She has been published in children and adult magazines. QUEEN OF PHYSICS, a picture book biography, is her debut. Teresa’s hobbies include making art, making soap, knitting, baking, helping out around the homestead, and wowing the chickens with her bilingualism (they are not impressed). 

 

http://teresarobeson.com

Teresa is offering to give away one of her lovely Women in STEM TOTE BAGS to a randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on this post.  The winner can choose either the white handled or blue handled bag. The winner will be announced in a future post on this blog. Good luck!