following on from the role models thread..................

[zizou]

I would love to get some inspiring books for my dds on all these amazing women (sorry jordan, not you love.) They are non-fiction averse however. Does anyone know of some interesting, fictionalised (I guess narrative) stories about people like Rosa Parks, Wangari MaAthai, Grace Darling,etc suitable for 5 and 8 year olds?

bump anyone: where are all you bookish types?

bukp please? or even bump?

I don't know if they still do them but there are Ladybird books on historical characters and Flo nightingale is in there. I know becuase I have read it zillion times.

thank you noodlestroodle. I used to read those myself, but my dds are allergic to anything that smacks of FACTS.... I would have to inviegle them into reading what they thought was a story and then HA! some FACTS would sneak in along the way. Are there books like that?

That's hard...I am thinking...

Zizou, Usborne do a series called Famous Lives, which features Florence Nightingale, Anne Frank and, erm, Marie Antoinette
I think publishers have got so knotted up in the "boys don't like fiction, let's do fun, accessible non-fiction" issue, that they have rather neglected girl-specific titles in this age range (eg. the Usborne Famous Lives range has lots more MEN subjects).
this looks good about Rosa Parks, but there are also lots of good stories about famous women in British history in Geraldine McCaughrean's anthology Britannia - Grace Darling and Boudicca are there. This book is much more suitable for older dd.

I have a couple of American books published by Scholastic, one about Rosa Parks this one and another about Ruby Bridges a little girl who was one of the first African American children to attempt to go to a segregated school.

thanks, both - not surprised that la mccaughrean has it sown up.
Will check these out.