This is fictional but a fantastical telling of another world (which you could almost say about adulthood if you haven't reach it yet), with unusual spells, creatures, and powers. Harry Potter is an orphan living as an unwanted child with his aunt and uncle, who treat him more like a servant, and with his chubby cousin Dudley Dursley. But at 11 he discovers he is a "wizard" and is brought by the semi-giant Hagrid to the Hogharts boarding school by special train. There he has many adventures with new friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and learns about courage and one way to challenge the evil wizard Voldemort. Books, of course, contain a lot more about their characters than what you see on screen, so even if you like the movies, the book can be even better!

This is a book "chock full" of women who have made a difference but received little or no recognition in the history books. These are people like Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman doctor; Ada Lovelace, who helped collaborate on and explain the modern computer; Jane Goodall, primatologist (studied chimps in Africa and promoted environmentalism); Grace Hopper, mother of modern computer programming; Marie Curie, chemist and physicist who won the Nobel price 2x; and many more. These women were curious and against all odds pursued their fields of interest. They are worthy of your time.

"Silent Spring" is Rachel Carson's thoughtful, fact filled book about the dangers of pesticides. A reader in New England told her about birds dying after eating on lawns that had been sprayed with pesticides. Carson specifically talked about birds and the effect a pesticide like DDT had on them, and she even found a pesticide-cancer connection. She dedicated the last years of her life to alerting others to the dangers of DDT and even debated these issues on TV wearing a wig, because she was battling cancer at the time. The book is informative and groundbreaking for its time.

Sally Ride didn't start out as an astronaut. She actually was into tennis, around the time "Billie Jean King" was famous. But she felt she wasn't as good. At her special high school a teacher encouraged her interest in science and she went on to teach in the sciences and become the first U. S. female astronaut in space! This was a big honor and her cool head under pressure helped her get picked, even if reporters asked her if she cried and did all the cooking on the space shuttle. She is also a bio chapter in my "Great American Women" book because people don't know enough about her life and accomplishments, even beyond being in space, which she really enjoyed.

This is fiction, yet the story geared toward young women is based in part on the life of the author, Louisa May Alcott. The main character, Jo March, lives with sisters Meg, Beth, Amy, and their mother while their father is away as a Civil War army chaplain. Money is tight, yet Jo is interested in writing, not becoming just someone's wife. She is tomboyish , the opposite of her sisters Amy and Meg, and Beth has many ills. A coming of age story of sorts when women had fewer choices yet could think independently if they chose, giving the reader something to think about.

There are numerous women in this book (yes, 52 in all!) with short biographies on their connections to science, including the likes of Hedy Lammar, actress and inventor, and some from my book, like Sally Ride, Ada Lovelace, Rachel Carson. But there are no pictures for a younger reader and the natural sciences and African American pioneers aren't given much space.

This was a fascinating historical read because history has "buried" the feats of the women in this book, who were actually flying and racing (!) planes in the late 1930s. The second world war curtailed their theatrics and daring, not taken seriously so soon after they'd begun. These were women flying with open cockpits, women like Amelia Earhart, who attempted to totally circle the globe, Louise Thaden, who raced and for a short time delivered mail by plane, and young divorcee Ruth Elder Alba, also a daring flyer. They were firsts in aviation at the time when we only thought men could fly!

This is actually an autobiography, so the famous Mrs. Rosa Parks tells the story of her life. She was actually involved with the NAACP young council and is more than just an "accidental" heroine. She and her family had to endure the harsh "Jim Crow" laws of the south and helped spark the bus boycott that energized the Civil Rights movement, something you don't realize is wrong till it happens to you.