53 books like Rosie Revere, Engineer

I loved reading about the importance of a growth mindset by the person who pioneered the concept. She explains why it’s so important for parents to praise children for their effort, not their success. She shows that praising children for their intelligence or talent harms their motivation and prevents them from succeeding.

I also love that she shows how important it is for children not to be afraid to fail and to keep trying because, with enough effort, they will succeed. I think these are among the most important concepts in raising creative, entrepreneurial, and risk-taking children.

Tar Beach is a classic and for good reason! This book addresses heavy subjects like racism and poverty but is threaded through with an overall message of hope and love. The main character flies above her life in 1930s Harlem, soaring over buildings and bridges -- claiming them as her own. The dreamy illustrations and surreal storyline acknowledge the hard realities of life, but leave the reader with a sense of optimism for the future.

This book is hands down one of my favorite children’s books of all time. Jim LaMarche’s gorgeous illustrations had me entranced as a kid (they still do!) and as an adult revisiting the book, I am blown away by how thoughtfully it tackles some heavy real-life issues. The story centers around an older couple struggling with infertility who, through a magical springtime rain, find themselves suddenly the caretakers of 12 fantastically tiny babies.

The story has the effortless flow of a classic fairytale and along the way weaves a moving and nuanced understanding of parenting and the overall concept of family. At the heart of the story lies the message that someone does not have to be biologically related to a child to be their parent- What makes a family is love.

Oliver Jeffers is a master storyteller. Like the girl in this story, when I lost my father, I wanted to build walls to protect myself from the pain of grief so my heart could never hurt so much again. It took time to find a way to open my heart again and continue to find wonder.

Reading The Heart and the Bottle felt like reading my own story, like Jeffers understood me. With sparce text and simple, but poignant, illustrations, Jeffers clearly shows the process of healing from loss.

I don’t think I will ever have the words to truly express my admiration for Christopher Myers. I have had the immense good luck to get to know and work with him, but even if that weren’t the case his books would hold a powerful place in my heart. His books often take on complex emotional subjects, but do so with a sense of humor, magic, and above all hope. Wings speaks to its readers about the importance of courage and allyship and centers around a message of embracing the things that make us unique -- even in the face of bullying. 

I like this book because it has humor, a lesson learned, and (spoiler alert) a happy ending.

The main character, Beatrice, is very serious about being perfect. In fact, she prides herself on being a perfectionist. She seems perfect in practically every way until one day when she enters a talent show. One can only imagine all the worries or fear that come to mind when about to perform in front of an audience.

That’s why I enjoyed this book, because many probably have the same worries or fear like Beatrice – what happens when I mess up? Beatrice’s fear unfortunately becomes a reality when she’s faced with that very problem. How Beatrice handles it at the end is both puzzling and exciting. Perhaps we all should be more like Beatrice.

What kids don’t like stories about a dragon? I know my students did.

This book is one from a series of dragon books by Steve Herman that has rhyming lines and colorful illustrations that remind me of a comic book. I really like it because of its messages to kids about learning from mistakes. As a teacher, I have seen too many children who want to be perfect. I think stories like this can begin to normalize mistakes so that children will learn to accept them as a natural part of learning.

Diggory Doo the Dragon deals with a lot of mistakes that bring him blame, shame, and tears. He wants to quit but then realizes that such situations later prove to be just chances to do better next time.

The first two words of this book’s title “Everyone Can” got my attention. And as I flipped through the pages, I was really drawn to its brightly painted illustrations that reminded me so much of modern artwork.

This book is by a two-time Caldecott Medalist and was a Junior Library Guild Selection winner. Its theme is very relatable, for I myself endured the same challenges that many face when learning to ride a bike. The story includes training wheels, holding on, letting go, and of course, falling. (However, I sure don’t remember having the benefit of training wheels.)

There are lots of ups and downs in the story with encouraging words that can propel any child through their many attempts. Perhaps you can predict how this story ends.

I am a big Franklin fan, as anyone knows who has read my own book about him. This is my favorite book about Franklin as an inventor. I love Gene Barretta’s bright, cartoony illustrations and cleverly written text, which juxtaposes familiar modern-day scenes with Franklin’s astonishing array of innovations (he even invented the odometer??) in a rollicking salute to a Founding Father far ahead of his time.  

What really attracted to me about this book was Jenny Uglow’s ability to bring the eighteenth century alive in her biographies of five men – Josiah Wedgwood, Mathew Boulton, James Watt, Eramus Darwin, and Joseph Priestley – who met every month near Birmingham when the moon was full (so that they could see their way home).

These men genuinely transformed the world with their discoveries that created and powered the first factories and revolutionized our understanding of the natural and chemical worlds. For some reason I always remember Uglow’s description of Wedgwood, who invented the process for mass producing china, being so scientifically curious that he insisted on sitting up to watch his own leg being amputated.

This book is a wonderful, personal introduction to the English Enlightenment.