In honor of Women’s History Month, we spoke with seven creators of picture book biographies highlighting overlooked female figures in history.
Josie James
How did you first learn about Marjory Stoneman Douglas?
In April 2015, my family and I visited the Everglades National Park [in Florida] in search of wood storks, roseate spoonbills, and manatees. On route, there were a lot of houses, hotels, shopping malls, and traffic, but when we entered the park, its beauty transported us into another world. The vastness of the sawgrass was breathtaking. The view was unobstructed by tall trees, and a mighty wind blew across the prairie as enormous fluffy clouds gathered in the bright blue sky. I knew I needed to know more about the Everglades, the park, and the people, like Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who preserved a precious piece of how our world used to be for future generations.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, in her wide-brimmed hat and pearls, was the unlikely champion of a wetland wilderness. Her lifelong friendship with the Everglades illustrates the vital and beautiful connection between the environment and humanity, and her groundbreaking historical and environmental novel, River of Grass, as well as poems, articles, and short stories, foreshadowed a future of ecological woes. Her involvement in creating the Everglades National Park and lifelong efforts to preserve the Greater Everglades from destruction were pivotal in our national discussion about the sources of our water and unchecked land development. The founding of the Friends of the Everglades, which continues to fight to preserve and restore her beloved wildlife wilderness, is her crowning achievement.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
Shortly before Douglas died, 1.3 million acres, approximately 86% of the Everglades National Park, were designated the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness Area. Upon her death at the age of 108, park rangers spread her ashes among her beloved River of Grass within the namesake area.
Marjory's tenacity and dedication to research was fierce. She engaged scientists, botanists, geologists, archeologists, anthropologists, and historians when researching her novel River of Grass, published in 1947. Her writing heralded the cry for the environment, which did not become a national movement until the 1960s, and expertly wove the exploitation of the Everglades landscape with the atrocities inflicted upon the Native people.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
It is a pleasure to introduce young readers to the grand dame of the Everglades. Marjory Stoneman Douglas demonstrates that women are strong. She stood before some of the most powerful politicians in a flowered dress, purse in hand, and commanded their attention. Women can fulfill their dreams. Marjory dreamed of becoming a writer, and she did. Women can protect the environment. Marjory believed in preserving and restoring the Everglades when others didn’t. Women seek knowledge. Marjory engaged Florida’s scientists, writers, politicians, and people to craft her stories, columns, poems, and novels to influence public opinion. Women shape the world through writing, activism, work, and art. Their achievements are the building blocks of our inspiration, and storytelling allows young readers to explore their well- lived lives.
Marjory’s River of Grass: Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Fierce Protector of the Everglades by Josie James. Little, Brown/Ottaviano, Apr. $18.99 ISBN 978-0-316-44691-4
Caroline McAlister
How did you first learn about Ruth Asawa?
I saw her obituary in the New York Times in 2013 and I was intrigued by the story about her making undulating lines in the dirt. I loved the image of her as a child sitting on the back of the leveler with her heels dragging. I thought that this would make a beautiful opening image for a picture book. Also, the Quaker College where I taught, Guilford College, accepted Japanese American students from the camps during World War II and, in one of my classes, I had taught the novel No-No Boy by John Okada. [Asawa and her family were sent to incarceration camps during this period.] Guilford College also has interesting connections to Josef Albers, Ruth’s professor at Black Mountain College.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
I wanted to highlight Ruth’s incredibly resilient creative spirit. I also wanted to emphasize her advocacy for art education, and her idea that art is for everyone. Finally, I wanted readers to see how beautiful her sculptures are, and I think the illustrator, Jamie Green, did a wonderful job conveying their originality, grace, and beauty.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
I was surprised that the students in the schools at the incarceration camps resisted by saying “except for us” when they pledged allegiance to the flag. I also hadn’t known about the gifted Disney artists who were also incarcerated and gave art lessons to the kids at the Santa Anita racetrack. What a stroke of fortune that Ruth got to have these lessons! Also, I was disturbed and saddened by the pattern of family separation caused by order 9066. Ruth did not see her father for five years because he was considered a dangerous alien and sent to a different camp. This is not in the book, but the family had sent Ruth’s younger sister to Japan to visit relatives before the war broke out. The sister was stuck there until the end of the war and forgot how to speak English.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
We have a president and a vice president and cabinet members who have disparaged women and tried to erase their contributions to public life. Ruth’s fountains and memorials have impacted the visual landscape of San Francisco. Young readers need to know that women have been leaders in the arts, in science, and in politics for over a century and we will not go back.
A Line Can Go Anywhere: The Brilliant, Resilient Life of Artist Ruth Asawa by Caroline McAlister, illus. by Jamie Green. Roaring Brook, Feb. $19.99 ISBN 978-1-250-31037-8
Jen McCartney
How did you first learn about Mary Katharine Goddard?
My mom, Karen Blumenthal, was working on this project when she passed away in 2020. She became fascinated with Mary Katharine Goddard’s story because she saw it as part of a trend in her work. Her focus was on writing about historical figures, particularly women, who were often overlooked. When she first heard Mary’s story, she excitedly asked all of us, “Did you know a woman signed the Declaration of Independence?” Then, Revolutionary Mary was born.
When my mom passed away, it meant a lot to me and my family to finish her work. I took over the picture book, wrapping up the research and writing, and helped shepherd the project through the publishing process. I loved getting to read her research, from the journal articles to her little scribbles in the margins of her photocopies. Finishing the project was a way for me to honor the work she did and to connect with her memory.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
We wanted to highlight Mary’s contributions to the Revolutionary War, printing, and the distribution of the Declaration of Independence. Mary printed the Declaration of Independence so that it could be distributed to the colonies. While Mary typically signed her printed work with her initials, M.K. Goddard, she chose to sign the Declaration with her full name, Mary Katharine Goddard. She put her stamp on history with a fearless mark of pride in both the ideas in the Declaration and her own work. The Goddard Broadside is still shared and distributed to this day, and it will always have her name on it.
What Mary did by printing the Declaration was brave. If the British had won the war, she would’ve been punished for treason. We wanted to highlight for young readers how potentially risky Mary’s actions were and the strength that actions like that took during a tumultuous time.
My mom, who was a former business journalist, was also struck by Mary’s accomplishments as a businesswoman. Mary ran a difficult and important business at a time when women were not typically business owners. She was a true trailblazer.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
One story from Mary’s life that surprised me was of her service as Baltimore’s postmaster from 1775 to 1789. She was removed in 1789 in favor of a man with political connections. The postmaster general at the time believed the job was too dangerous and required too much travel for a woman. Mary wrote directly to George Washington, appealing the decision with a letter signed by more than 200 businessmen in Baltimore. She didn’t get her job back.
Mary was discriminated against specifically because of her gender, even though she had been excelling in her position. That story feels so modern in many ways, especially as we see so much discrimination in workplaces today. It was something that I think connected my research of Mary’s life to modern America and showed how me her strength and bravery are just as necessary today as they were in the 18th century.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
I think it’s important to remind young readers that women and people of color played a huge role in American history, even if the stories we primarily hear are about white men. Patriotism belongs to all of us and Mary’s story shows the ways that has always been true. It’s important that everyone can see the contributions to history that all people make in order to feel the gravity of their own importance and potential for impact. Everyone has a role to play and the ability to make a difference!
Revolutionary Mary: The True Story of One Woman, the Declaration of Independence, and America's Fight for Freedom by Karen Blumenthal and Jen McCartney, illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley. Roaring Brook, Feb. $18.99 ISBN 978-1-62672-311-5
Laura Obuobi
How did you first learn about Michaela Mabinty DePrince?
I was browsing the YA aisle in a Barnes & Noble in New York City when I noticed the biography of Michaela DePrince sticking out of the shelf. Instead of pushing it back in to match the neat arrangement of the books, I pulled it out to see what the book was about. I read the blurb and was immediately taken by what the book promised to share. When I was in high school, I researched and wrote an essay about the Sierra Leonean civil war. Seeing in that moment that Michaela DePrince was born in Sierra Leone and lived through that same war I had researched and wrote about spurred me to buy the book so I could read her account of the war, and how she ended up in the United States as a ballerina. That book led me to the documentary First Position, which sealed my deep admiration and interest in Michaela DePrince and her very powerful story.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
I wanted to highlight Michaela’s resilience in the face of self-doubt, and prejudice regarding her identity as a Black ballerina. I also wanted to highlight her desire and persistence to perfect her skill by wearing tights and pointe shoes that matched her skin tone, and her rise to become one of the most important ballerinas in the world. She achieved a lot in the 29 years of her life. And she’s left a legacy of what it means to have faith in a dream and to fight for it no matter what.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
I was surprised to learn that for a long time, brown-skinned ballerinas had to paint their pointe shoes: a process called pancaking. They would paint their pointe shoes using make-up foundation that matched their skin tone. And the reason for this was to create a more pleasing and precise visual in the various poses and ballet positions. Ballet professionals call it completing the line. Ballerinas with darker skin tones were painting their shoes to match the color of their skin because dancewear companies weren’t producing brown pointe shoes, and didn’t have brown pointe shoes in their inventory. And it wasn’t until 2017 that one dancewear company began to make brown pointe shoes available for sale. And finally in 2020 after more advocacy work by brown-skinned ballerinas, six more dancewear companies finally decided to include brown pointe shoes in their inventory. This really surprised me.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
They can be inspired by the resilience of these women to push forward in their own unique and world-changing goals. I also mention in the book’s author’s note that Black ballerinas like Michaela allow Black girls to envision themselves in the ballet world. At the same time, the presence of dancers like Michaela DePrince expands all of our perspectives on what a truly inclusive ballet world can look like. Michaela suffered a lot of adversity and trauma from a very young age. After she started developing her talent as a dancer, she faced prejudice as a Black dancer, and for her skin condition (vitiligo). And yet, she still became an influential and important ballet figure. It reminds us all that our painful beginnings or difficult pasts don’t define us. Our ability to rise out of it and to step fully, unapologetically, and unwaveringly into who we are meant to be is what defines us. Michaela’s story is powerful. And I hope more people get to know her.
Becoming a Ballerina: The Story of Michaela Mabinty DePrince by Laura Obuobi, illus. by Olivia Duchess. HarperCollins, Jan., $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-322246-5
Susan Goldman Rubin
How did you first learn about Clara Driscoll?
During the pandemic, I was home in lockdown and wanted to start a new book. Looking for an idea, I roamed my bookshelf and came across a book I had picked up at a conference: a novel called Clara and Mr. Tiffany. The name caught my interest again, and as I leafed through the novel, the concept of “the Tiffany Girls” as a subject for young readers excited me. The afterword acknowledged scholars’ recent discovery of the “round robin” letters from Clara to her mother and sisters, proving that she and her girls had designed and produced the gorgeous flower-themed lamps for Tiffany Studios. Clara not only described her designs in the letters, but she drew sketches of them. I sent for the book A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls that accompanied a permanent exhibit of the lamps at New York Historical and eagerly began research.
What contributions of achievement did you want to highlight in your book?
I wanted to tell the story of a woman who pursued a career in the arts at a time—the late 19th century—when most women were raising children, or were nurses and teachers. Clara Driscoll’s unique achievement as a glass designer and glass cutter amazed me. Inspired by her love of nature growing up in Ohio, Clara captured the beauty of poppies, daffodils, and even cobwebs in an unusual art material: colored glass developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. I also wanted to show Clara’s leadership qualities in heading the women’s glass cutting department, the first of its kind in the world. With her Tiffany Girls, she not only collaborated with the male workers at the Tiffany Studio, she sometimes competed with them and won. Another singular achievement was Clara’s independence in courageously moving to New York City in the first place, learning new skills on the job at the Studio, and supporting herself with her art.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
I was astounded to learn about the techniques Clara patiently mastered to create her magnificent flower-themed lamps. By reading books, and watching videos on YouTube, I began to understand Clara’s process, from sketching her original ideas, gaining Mr. Tiffany’s approval, choosing the exact right colors of glass to execute the design, cutting the shapes, and supervising her girls to wrap the pieces in strips of copper with beeswax. I was also surprised to find out that Mr. Tiffany only hired single women, so when Clara married Mr. Driscoll, she had to leave her work. But when Clara’s husband died a few years later, she returned to the Studio. Also, amazingly, Mr. Tiffany paid women and men equal wages.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
As the fight for women’s rights continues, it’s important to present role models to young girls and showcase women who have achieved success in their careers. For this purpose, I was thrilled to reveal the story of an unsung artist and her team, especially for readers interested in the arts. Clara’s innovation and determination, working hard behind the scenes to create masterpieces, prove that a woman can do anything!
Dragonflies of Glass: The Story of Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls by Susan Goldman Rubin, Susanna Chapman. Abrams, Feb., $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-5436-4
Allen R. Wells
How did you first learn about Yvonne Clark?
I’m a former student of Yvonne “Y.Y.” Clark, a remarkable mentor and a pioneering engineer. In college, everyone called her “Y.Y.” — a name she adopted professionally to disguise her gender when applying for engineering jobs at a time when men were reluctant to hire women. I first met her in the summer of 2008 during my new student orientation at Tennessee State University. My assigned advisor couldn’t attend, but Y.Y., a mechanical engineering professor, graciously guided me around the campus and Torrance Hall. This small act of generosity began one of the most impactful experiences of my time at TSU.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
When I set out to write a picture book about Clark, I initially tried to cover her entire life. But I soon realized that capturing the heart of her legacy meant focusing on what made her story truly special. Y.Y.’s passion for making engineering accessible to young people stood out, so I chose to highlight how a curious girl who loved building and fixing things grew up to become a problem-solver for NASA. I framed her story around a superhero theme—not with superhuman powers, but with the real-life “superpowers” of curiosity, determination, and problem-solving. Most importantly, I wanted kids to see themselves in Y.Y.’s journey and know that before she became a trailblazing engineer, she was a kid just like them—a kid with a spark.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
Researching Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark! gave me a deeper understanding of Y.Y.’s legacy beyond what I knew as one of her former students. I was struck by how many obstacles she overcame, how profoundly she shaped the engineering field, and how underrecognized her contributions remain. Y.Y. intentionally made engineering accessible to young people, especially Black students, believing that kids should be introduced to engineering early—before doubt sets in. Her mindset was revolutionary at a time when opportunities for Black engineers, especially Black women, were scarce. She didn’t just break barriers; she kept the door open for others. While researching, I discovered that Y.Y. worked as an aerospace engineer in the 1950s at Marshall Space Flight Center, where I had designed building renovation projects. Yet, more than her technical achievements, her commitment to mentorship left the most resounding impact. She wasn’t just designing systems—she was designing futures. Writing this book was about more than celebrating her brilliance; it was about helping kids see themselves in her story and recognizing that their own sparks—whether in science, art, or anything else—can make a real difference.
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
In this current climate where conversations about equity, representation, and empowerment are highly important, young readers need stories of influential women. These stories reflect young girls’ potential and offer all children a wider perspective on women’s contributions. Seeing trailblazers like Yvonne “Y.Y.” Clark break barriers in engineering challenges the false notion that history’s most significant moments were driven only by men. Representation in history books shapes how children understand what’s possible, empowering girls to see themselves as leaders and helping boys appreciate diverse voices. Telling these stories isn’t just honoring the past—it’s inspiring future generations to break their own barriers.
Yvonne Clark and Her Engineering Spark by Allen R. Wells, illus. by DeAndra Hodge. FSG, Jan., $19.99 ISBN 978-0-374-39135-5
Julie Winterbottom
How did you first learn about Ruth Patrick?
I came across her in a collection of essays about women in science. What caught my attention was a description of the moment when Patrick fell in love with science as a very young girl. She was peering through her father’s microscope at a drop of pond water she had collected on a nature walk. She was astonished to see delicate, jewel-like shapes floating to and fro. They were diatoms, microscopic algae that would later become the subject of Patrick’s scientific research. That moment when she got hooked on science hooked me. I began a year of research into the life of this underappreciated botanist and ecology hero.
What contributions or achievements did you want to highlight in your book?
Ruth Patrick lived to be 105 and worked well into her 90s, so it was difficult to choose among her many accomplishments. I decided to focus on her landmark study of stream ecology, which demonstrated that biodiversity decreases as pollution increases. It sounds obvious today, but when Patrick made her discovery, scientists had no reliable way to measure pollution—and the term biodiversity didn’t exist! I also wanted to highlight Patrick’s tireless efforts to get government and industry to address the problem of water pollution. In that regard, she is considered on a par with Rachel Carson.
What did you discover during your research that surprised you?
I was amazed to learn from an interview with Patrick that she used diatoms to help the United States during World War II. The Navy had captured a German submarine and wanted to know where its base was located. They asked Patrick to examine material scraped from the hull. She identified a species of diatom that lives only in the West Indies. The information allowed the Navy to locate a supply line of German submarines. In Patrick’s words, “diatoms are like detectives.”
In our current cultural climate, why is it important for young readers to see influential women in history?
Ruth Patrick was once told she couldn’t lead her own research study because “women waste money.” While there has been progress since then, there still isn’t enough support for women and girls in STEM. With the current backlash against women’s rights, it’s more important than ever for young people to hear the stories of women who insisted on pursuing their intellectual passions in a hostile environment. Each woman’s story shows a different way of persevering, and each one can inspire a young reader to do the same.
Magic in a Drop of Water: How Ruth Patrick Taught the World About Water Pollution by Julie Winterbottom, illus. by Susan Reagan. Rocky Pond, Mar., $19.99 ISBN 978-0-593-62022-9
