Harriet's Ruffled Feathers

The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

(Simon & Schuster)

(pub.3.15.2022) 40 pages

Author: Joy McCullough

Illustrator: Romima Galotta

Character: Harriet Lawrence Hemenway

Overview:

" Harriet Lawrence Hemenway loved hats. She loved them with ribbons and flowers, embroidery and pearls. And feathers! What was better than a hat with grand, glorious feathers? But then Harriet discovered that millions of birds died so that she and her friends could soar at the height of style. A passion for fashion was one thing, but this was feather-brained!

So Harriet led the charge to take feathers out of fashion, getting laws passed that made it illegal to buy or sell wild bird feathers. In 1896, she and her fellow bird protectors founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which grew into a national organization that still protects birds today!"

Tantalizing taste:

" Minna and Harriet agreed: They would no longer wear feathered fashions. But they were only two people. They'd have to do more if they were going to save the birds.

It was 1896. A new century was on the horizon, and change felt possible. Yet women didn't even have the right to vote. What could two society ladies do about a great big ostrich of a problem?

They decided to have a tea party with all their friends...

The women showed up in fine feather, sporting spectacular hats with massive plumes ...

Harriet gathered her flock... and then she told them, 'Did you know that every year, five million birds are killed in the name of fashion.'"

And something more: The Back Matter of Harriet's Ruffled Feathers includes a section, "How to Bird-watch Like Harriet," with suggestions such as "You can also be a citizen scientist by reporting your sightings of birds and other wildlife. Journey North has a website where you can learn about migrating animals, like hummingbirds and monarch butterflies, and record your sightings."

Yes We Will

Asian Americans Who Shaped the Country

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Dial Books/ Penguin Random House

(pub.5.3.2022) 40 pages

Author: Kelly Yang

Multiple Illustrators

Characters: Multiple Asian Americans

Overview:

" From creating beautiful music like Yo-Yo Ma to flying to outer space like Franklin Chang-Díaz; from standing up to injustice like Fred Korematsu to becoming the first Asian American, Black and female vice president of the United States like Kamala Harris, this book illuminates the power of Asian Americans all over the country, in all sorts of fields. Each spread is illustrated by a different renowned Asian American or Asian artist. "

Tantalizing taste:

" A long time ago, our ancestors came to this land to build a better life.

To build a better future.

[spread illustrated by Sally Deng]

They were told to get out.

They were told they couldn't stay.

You know what they said to that?

They said, we belong here, and we will thrive!

'Yes, we will!'

[spread illustrated by Dow Phumiruk]

...For we can be ANYTHING.

All we have to do is dream it."

[spread illustrated by Marcos Chin]

And something more: The Author's Note by Kelly Yang expands on each spread. The one illustrated by Dow Phumiruk explains, in part, that "early Asian American immigrants faced many discriminatory laws, including the CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT, which banned Chinese laborers, both skilled and unskilled, from entering the country. It made Chinese immigrants ineligible for citizenship and naturalization, giving them the legal status of permanent aliens. The Act was passed in response to years of anti-immigrant hostility and violence on the part of Americans who feared the new immigrants would take their jobs... If Chinese immigrants were not allowed to be citizens, they could not challenge discriminatory laws like this."

Love Is Loud

How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

A Paula Wiseman Book

(Simon & Schuster)

(pub.1.10.2023) 48 pages

Author: Sandra Neil Wallace

Illustrator: Bryan Collier

Character: Diane Nash

Overview:

" Diane grew up in the southside of Chicago in the 1940s. As a university student, she visited the Tennessee State Fair in 1959. Shocked to see a bathroom sign that read For Colored Women, Diane learned that segregation in the South went beyond schools—it was part of daily life. She decided to fight back, not with anger or violence, but with strong words of truth and action.

Finding a group of like-minded students, including student preacher John Lewis, Diane took command of the Nashville Movement. They sat at the lunch counters where only white people were allowed and got arrested, day after day. Leading thousands of marchers to the courthouse, Diane convinced the mayor to integrate lunch counters. Then, she took on the Freedom Rides to integrate bus travel, garnering support from Martin Luther King Jr. and then the president himself—John F. Kennedy"

Tantalizing taste:

" You arrive in the spring of 1938 on the South Side, when Chicago's leaves unfurl, emerald green like your baby-girl eyes.

CELEBRATION, JUBILATION. Your parents baptize beautiful, honey-brown you, Diane Judith Nash.

Their first, Chicago-born, no way they'll raise you down in the segregated South like they were.

True, Chicago has sides, but in your house, your parents don't talk about divides, hoping you know only love."

At first it works, until you're four, and the world war changes everything.

...

You travel across America for fifty years, so young people will hear how love creates change.

WELCOME, DIANE NASH, the signs say. Wonderful and wise, Diane Nash looks into your eyes and lets you know how she stayed brave the day she got arrested for ordering a sandwich. And why she refused bail and marched to jail to keep freedom rolling. It's because she loved you even before you were born.

SWEETLY, COMPLETELY. Proud to secure every freedom for you, she proved that

Love is fierce.

Love is strong.

Love is loud!

And something more: SANDRA NEIL WALLACE, in the Author's Note explains that "traveling across America for fifty years, she spoke with young people about her activism and how to create change.

'Although we had not yet met you,' Diane told them, 'we loved you. And we were trying to bring bout the best society that we could for you to be born into.'

And that's how fierce and strong and loud love is."