Doobry Summer Pick: The Shark Lady
Written by Jess Keating, Illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens
What's it about?
This is a true story about how an American ichthyologist, Eugenie Clark, became to known as The Shark Lady, despite that people believed women shouldn’t be a scientist (NONE SENSE!! is what my kids said when I read this description to them).
Why do we love it?
Girls in science - check! Inspirational and relatable story - check! And, what is better than a story about ocean and sharks for both girls and boys in the summer?! We smell an instant hit among kids little and big.
We love the story for accurately and realistically portraying how she succeeded and establish herself in the field - through a combination of hard work, grit, passion, and believing in herself. This is such a great book for fostering non-academic skills in kids.
Also, this idea of prejudice - women shouldn't be a scientist - can be a new concept for kids. And, this book gives us an opportunity to talk about the history and the idea of prejudice and discrimination.
We want more!
Eugenie Clark can’t be the only woman who overcame challenges to establish herself in STEM field. Based on our previous research that we know there is a strong demand among millennial moms for more stories of girls who nevertheless persisted to achieve their goals and dreams. We think Shark Lady could be the beginning of a great book series.
To discover more wildly fun books written by Jess Keating's other books series - The World of Weird Animals (my personal fav) and My Life is a Zoo series - please visit JessKeating.com.
Thanks for checking in with us this week, and we hope you get a chance to dive in to the magnificent story of The Shark Lady this summer. Save