Judy Blume is an amazing writer, and this book gives an interesting overview of her career. Targeting young readers in grades 1 through 4, it chronicles her young life and how she felt when the adults would not (or could not) answer the many questions she had about growing up, which prompted her to write Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, published in 1970, to help support other curious children. Read More »

Dolley Payne Madison was born during a time when women had few rights. She married a young man chosen by her father, but he and their infant died of yellow fever, leaving Dolley a widow with a one-year-old son. Soon James Madison expressed his interest in her, and she accepted his proposal. Read More »

Sacajawea is best known for her association with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but she had an interesting life even before that. In 1800, when she was about twelve, she was taken from her Shoshone tribe by the Hidatsa as a war prize. She lived with the Hidatsa for several years, learning the language and customs, when she met Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian fur trader, and married him. Read More »

Hard-working and dedicated, Sonia Sotomayor decided to be a lawyer when she was just ten years old, because she was a fan of Perry Mason, a television show about an attorney that aired in the 1960’s. She worked hard in school, and was outspoken in college, daring to say or do things that women were not supposed to do or say. Read More »

Whether you are a Trekkie or not, nearly everyone knows who Mr. Sulu is, but what we do not know is the man behind the character and all the things that shaped his life and made him into the person that he is. I will admit that I rarely watched the original series, although I did love the movies as a kid. That said, I have long been fascinated with all the characters that inhabited that mythical starship simply because they have always been such a visible part of our culture. Read More »

The manuscript written by Niccolò Machiavelli in 1515 is now presented in graphic form by Morim Kang. This volume is over two hundred pages of comics in tandem with Machiavelli’s treatise of the utilization of political power in the Western world. Machiavelli defended the notion of ruling by force rather than law. The King is a work about power, how to attain it, develop it and successfully utilize it. Read More »

When Ghosts Speak is an interesting chronicle of the talents of Mary Ann Winkowski, an otherwise average Ohio woman with the ability to communicate with earthbound spirits. Mary Ann is also able to create the White Light needed to release the spirits. Her ability was first noticed by her grandmother, a woman with similar talents, when Mary Ann was three. Soon, her Read More »