Women in the past were understood primarily in terms of the roles they played in families. Two new nonfiction picture books embrace the importance of family relationships but show women as both family members and successes.
Secret Engineer tells the story of how, in the nineteenth century, Emily Roebling kept her husband’s severe disabilities secret so his firm wouldn’t lose the engineering contract for the Brooklyn Bridge. To do so, she needed to teach herself how to engineer.
The book does a masterful job of explaining engineering principles through illustration and lucid text. It’s an inspiring story about a woman quietly saving the day for her family and creating something amazing for her community.
Sisters vaults forward in time to tell the story of Serena and Venus Williams. The book shows how they learned tennis from their father on dirty and dangerous downtown tennis courts. It leans in hard to their relationship–loving but competitive, too.
I loved the unusual trim size of the book–it’s a long, skinny rectangle when it’s closed and nearly square when it’s open. I’m not sure why it’s so pleasing–maybe it feels roughly like a tennis racket in your hand? Or maybe it allows page composition that conveys energy and speed? I don’t know, but I keep finding myself picking up the book out of my stash just for the pleasure of holding it.
The book is longer than most picture books at 48 pages, so there’s lots of story packed in!
Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge by Rachel Dougherty. Roaring Brook Press: 2019.
Sisters: Venus & Serena Williams by Jeanette Winter. Beach Lane: 2019.
I still need to read both of these, know they will be wonderful about these women. I have read The Bridge & about Emily Roebling, amazing story. My class traveled to NYC & studied the story of the bridge, visited & sketched that fabulous site. Thanks for sharing both, Annette!
New books to read! Thank you Annette.