Sarah Fabiny

I read this with my daughter because we knew a few basics about Wells (e.g. she was a journalist and an activist for women's suffrage) but wanted to learn more. Admittedly, at 6yo, my kid is a little young to learn about lynching (which Wells wrote about extensively in order to document the atrocities), but she really latched on to the idea that Wells was fighting for the rights of Black people *way before* the Civil Rights Movement. Ida B. Wells was active from the 1890s until her death in 1931, so she lived through the broken promise of Reconstruction and the pain of Jim Crow. She saw women get the right to vote, but she didn't see the end of legal segregation.

I also appreciated that this book called attention to how some white women suffragists were openly racist. They did not want the women's suffrage movement to include Black women like Wells. This opened up a conversation about intersectional feminism (though that phrase doesn't appear in the book).… (more)

I chose “Who Was Frida Kahlo?” for the conversation we had about biographies. I believe that learning about others relies heavily on connection. The story of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist who believed strongly in all that she did in life, is easily connected to with many different kinds of people and children in our classroom. As Dr. Hayes said, I should not limit myself to sharing this story with only children who are Hispanic or women. Just because that is what draws me to this story does not mean that other students should be limited simply because they do not fit this demographic. I would recommend this to children who are interested in art, Hispanic history, Communism, or just Frida in general. I could include this biography in a lesson about any of the subjects mentioned above or for a special month on artists, Hispanics, etc. While this book does do an excellent job of informing us about Frida’s life, it lacks one of the main messages that Frida strongly believed in: fight against “the man” and capitalism. By selling these books, profit is being made in vain, as Frida would hate to have her face plastered everywhere. I would supplement this text with the research I have found about this, especially if I were a 5th-7th grade teacher that could go a bit more in depth with this. Scholastic Book Wizard has identified this as a Grade 3-7 level book. I give this a 3/5 due to the missing message, but still liked this biography a lot.… (more)