Today is National Book Lover's Day! Where are all of our book lovers at? To celebrate, check out some of our favorite books for kids about this month's fearless world-changer, Irena Sendler, and books for adults about other female secret agents who changed the world during World War II. Snag these great reads from your local library, a locally owned bookstore, or on Amazon.
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Irena's Jars of Secrets For future world changers 4-8 years old. Irena knew she had to help the Jews who were packed into the Warsaw Ghetto. She began by smuggling food, clothing, and medicine into the ghetto, then turned to smuggling children out of the ghetto. Irena Sendler proved to the world that an ordinary person can accomplish extraordinary
deeds.
Irena's Children. For future world changers 10 years+. This young readers edition of Irena’s Children tells Irena’s unbelievable story set during one of the worst times in modern history. With guts of steel and unfaltering bravery, Irena smuggled thousands of children out of the walled Jewish ghetto in toolboxes and coffins, snuck them under overcoats at checkpoints, and slipped them through the dank sewers and into secret passages that led to abandoned buildings, where she convinced her friends and underground resistance network to hide them.
Across the ocean, Maria Mitchell helped her mapmaker father in the whaling village of Nantucket. At night they explored the starry sky through his telescope. Maria longed to discover a new comet—and after years of studying the night sky, she finally did.
Told in vibrant, evocative poems, this stunning novel celebrates the joy of discovery and finding wonder in the world around us.
Nancy Wake: World War Two’s Most Rebellious Spy. For adult world changers. This is the incredible true story of the greatest spy you’ve never heard of―as told to the author by the woman herself. At the outbreak of World War Two, Nancy Wake’s glamorous life in the South of France seemed far removed from the fighting. But when her husband was called up for military service, Nancy felt she had just as much of a duty to fight for freedom. By 1943, her fearless undercover work even in the face of personal tragedy had earned her a place on the Gestapo’s ‘most wanted’ list..
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II For adult world changers. In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.
What are some of your favorite books about curious women for kids? For adults? Sharing is caring and we’re always looking for something to read!