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As a child, award-winning author Catherine Thimmesh loved books (not so surprisingly) and loved to read. But she hated nonfiction — found it mind-numbingly boring (she hadn't discovered the likes of, say, Jean Fritz at the time) and avoided it at all costs. Interestingly, all of Catherine's published works to date are creative nonfiction. She says her one great fear in life is that one day a teacher will hold up one of her books and give it to the class as assigned reading material — and then the class will let out a collective GROAN! It is her goal as an author to avoid such a fate. Her most recent book, Madam President, was a New York Times Notable Book for 2004, as well as a Minnesota Book Award finalist. In a starred review, KIRKUS writes: "With uncommon brio, Thimmesh traces the course of women in the modern international political arena, profiling with even-handed admiration pivotal figures. . . a spectacular mix of entertainment, information, and inspiration." Her previous books, Girls Think of Everything and The Sky’s the Limit, have been translated into Korean and Chinese. Girls won the 2001 IRA Children's Book Award, was a Children's Book of the Month Best Nonfiction Book 2000, a Minnesota Book Award finalist, and a Smithsonian Notable Book 2000 (amongst other honors). Sky won the Minnesota Book Award in 2002, was a Smithsonian Notable Book 2002, and an Outstanding Science and Social Studies Trade Book for Children 2002 (amongst others). The author lives in Eden Prarie, Minnesota with her husband and two young children. When she isn't writing, Catherine enjoys playing with her kids, reading (new favorite author: Zadie Smith) and traveling (especially to warm locales in the winter). And what started as a lark has now become a passionate hobby — and once a week the author can be found hanging upside down and flipping off the flying trapeze at circus school. (Though she never really improves!) [Pronunciation guide: Thimmesh (tim-ish)] |
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Madam President: The Extraordinary, True When Abigail Adams asked her husband to “Remember the Ladies,” women could not vote or own property in America. Some seventy years later, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote, “To vote is the most sacred act of citizenship,” the government of the United States still did not treat women as equals, having yet to grant them the right to vote. But sixty-four years after that Geraldine Ferraro declared, “We can do anything,” and became the first American woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket. Today, surely our country is ready for a leader who, as Elizabeth Dole said, “will call America to her better nature.” This captivating book illuminates the bravery and tenacity of the women who have come before us. With an engaging narrative, fascinating quotes, and elegant illustrations, it not only shows how far women have come but also reveals the many unsung roles women have played in political history Step by step, these capable ladies have paved the way for our young leaders of tomorrow. They have enabled and empowered us to ask today: Well, why not the presidency? Awards |
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Team Moon: How 400,000 People Here is a rare perspective on a story we only thought we knew. For Apollo 11, the first moon landing, is a story that belongs to many, not just the few and famous. It belongs to the seamstresses who put together 22 layers of fabric for each space suit. To the engineers who created a special heat shield to protect the capsule during its fiery re-entry. It belongs to the flight directors, camera designers, software experts, suit testers, aerospace technicians, photo-developers, engineers, and navigators. Gathering direct quotes from some of these remarkable people who worked behind the scenes, author Catherine Thimmesh reveals their very human worries and concerns. Culling NASA transcripts, national archives, and stunning NASA photos from Apollo 11, she captures not only the sheer magnitude of this feat, but also the dedication, ingenuity and perseverance of the 400,000 people who worked to first put man on that great gray rock in the sky. Awards |
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The Sky's the Limit They study the night sky, watch chimpanzees in the wild, and dig up ancient clay treasures. They search the beach for rare fossils, photograph old rock carvings, explore the hazards of lead poisoning, and wander into dark caves. And in their watching, digging, and wandering, they become discoverers. Young and old, they are women and girls who discover seventy-million-year-old sea lizards, the very origins of counting and writing, Stone Age cave art, mysterious matter in the universe, and how a puddle of water can be sanitized when heated by the sun. Here is a tribute to the findings and revelations of these remarkable women and girls: to their perseverance, their epiphanies, their wondrous curiosity. Brought to life by innovative collage illustrations, these inspiring stories drawn from primary sources consistently probe into still unanswered questions. Here are discoveries that open our eyes not only to what women and girls can accomplish but also to the astonishing world in which we live. Awards |
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Girls Think of Everything: In kitchens and living rooms, in garages and labs and basements, even in converted chicken coops, women and girls have invented. They have invented candles, cloth, soap, helmets, baby carriers, Scotchgard, voice-controlled wheelchairs, and cancer-fighting drugs—ingenious innovations that have made our lives simpler and better. Their creations are some of the most enduring (the windshield wiper) and best loved (the chocolate chip cookie). What inspired these women, and just how did they turn their ideas into inventions? From Sybilla Masters, the first American woman with a documented invention (although the patent had to be in her husband's name), to twelve-year-old Becky Schroeder, who in 1974 became the youngest girl to receive a patent, Girls Think of Everything tells the stories of these women's obstacles and their remarkable victories. Awards |
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