'She Persisted,' Now In Chapter Book Form, Brings History To Life

Did you know that Annie Oakley had a cow called "Old Pink?" Or that she made her first quail trap out of cornstalks? Or that the very first time she picked up a rifle, she was able to shoot a walnut that was hanging off a tree?

I know that because in the fifth grade my teacher, Mrs. Coleman, had a book called by Ellen Wilson, and please don't tell anyone, but I borrowed it from the classroom library and somehow never returned it. (I am sure I meant to, I really am, but how Annie was so much like me ... really, I have no by Cornelia Meigs, and books from the series. I loved reading about important people when they were kids, especially women like Clara Barton and Helen Keller, identifying with their childhood frustrations with having to sew quilts instead of play outside, or having keep their opinions to themselves when they were bursting with things to say. Thinking back, there were precious few books about important women when I was a kid, much less books about women of color, and the ones I did find I had to search pretty hard for. It seemed women had not made much of an impression on history, unless they were very loud, very disagreeable to society, or did something impossible to ignore — like found the Red Cross.