Karen Bush Gibson – författare

As the first Americans, hundreds of indigenous bands and nations already lived in North America when European explorers first set out to conquer an inhabited land. This book captures the early history of these complex societies and their 500-year struggle to survive against all odds from war, displacement, broken treaties, and boarding schools. Not only a history of tribal nations, Native American History for Kids also includes profiles of famous Native Americans and their many contributions, from early leaders to superstar athlete Jim Thorpe, dancer Maria Tallchief, astronaut John Herrington, author Sherman Alexie, actor Wes Studi, and more.

            Readers will also learn about Indian culture through hands-on activities, such as planting a Three Sisters garden (corn, squash, and beans), making beef jerky in a low-temperature oven, weaving a basket out of folded newspaper strips, deciphering a World War II Navajo Code Talker message, and playing Ball-and-Triangle, a game popular with Penobscot children. And before they are finished, readers will be inspired to know that the history of the Native American people is the history of all Americans.

Detailing the role of women in aviation, from the very first days of flight to the present, this rich exploration of the subject profiles 26 women pilots who sought out and met challenges both in the sky and on the ground. Divided into six chronologically arranged sections, this book composes a minihistory of aviation. Learn about pioneers such as Katherine Wright, called by many the "Third Wright Brother," and Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of France, the first woman awarded a license to fly. Read about barnstormers like Bessie Coleman and racers like Louise Thaden, who bested Amelia Earhart to win the 1929 Women''s Air Derby. Additional short biography sidebars for other key figures and lists of supplemental resources for delving deeper into the history of the subject are also included.

When Valentina Tereshkova blasted off aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, she became the first woman to rocket into space. It would be 19 years before another woman got a chance—cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982—followed by American astronaut Sally Ride a year later. By breaking the stratospheric ceiling, these women forged a path for many female astronauts, cosmonauts, and mission specialists to follow.

Women in Space profiles 23 pioneers, including Eileen Collins, the first woman to command the space shuttle; Peggy Whitson, who logged more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station; and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space; as well as astronauts from Japan, Canada, Italy, South Korea, France, and more. Readers will also learn about the Mercury 13, American women selected by NASA in the late 1950s to train for spaceflight. Though they matched and sometimes surpassed their male counterparts in performance, they were ultimately denied the opportunity to head out to the launching pad. Their story, and the stories of the pilots, physicists, and doctors who followed them, demonstrate the vital role women have played in the quest for scientific understanding.