Booklists

At-home storytime is an effective way to promote language and literacy skills and help encourage a lifelong love of reading and learning. 

Check out these recommended books for adults and all ages that are about Iowans (Kate Shelley) or significant individuals from history who spent time in Iowa (pilot Amelia Earhart).

Books About Iowans

At-home storytime is an effective way to promote language and literacy skills and help encourage a lifelong love of reading and learning. Below are recommended books for children that are about Iowans (Kate Shelley) or significant individuals from history who spent time in Iowa (pilot Amelia Earhart).

Kate Shelley: Bound for Legend by Robert D. San Souci (1995)

Once in a while an ordinary person performs a deed so brave and unexpected that it is remembered long afterward. Kate Shelley was such a person. In the midst of a torrential storm in the summer of 1881, a dreadful train wreck occurred near 15-year-old Shelley’s Iowa farm. Find out what deeds make her a well-remembered person of courage.

I am Amelia Earhart by Brad Meltzer (2014)

Amelia Earhart refused to accept no for an answer; she dared to do what no one had ever done before, and became the first woman to fly a plane all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. This book follows her from childhood to her first flying lessons and onward to her multi-record-breaking career as a pilot.

A Weed Is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver by Aliki (1988)

This children’s book provides text and pictures about the incredible life of scientist George Washington Carver. Born enslaved, Carver went on to become a world reknown scientist and devoted his entire life to helping improve agricultural processes. In 1890, Carver started studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. His art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized his talent and encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in Ames. When he began there in 1891, he was the first AfricanAmerican student, and later, the first African-American faculty member at Iowa State.

The Kid Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews (2010)

This engaging story reveals the incredible truth that everything people do matters. This story shows children that even the smallest of their actions can affect all of humanity. The book shares the stories of Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug (Iowan), Vice President Henry A. Wallace (Iowan) and scientist George Washington Carver (studied in Iowa).

American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood by Susan Wood (2017)

American Gothic is a picture-book biography that explores the birth of the famous painting, the movement that made it possible, and the artist - Iowan Grant Wood - who created it all.

Historical Books for Kids

Check out these recommended books for children about history. These books focus on significant moments in history and culture, such as the women’s suffrage movement, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression and Native American stories.

Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone (2010)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood up and fought for what she believed in - including women’s suffrage. From an early age, she knew that women were not given rights equal to men. But rather than accept her lesser status, Elizabeth went to college and later gathered other like-minded women to challenge the right to vote.

Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story by Margot Theis Raven (2014)

During World War I, while stationed overseas in France with the United States Army, Private James Donovan literally stumbles upon a small dog cowering on the streets of Paris. Named Rags for his disheveled appearance, the little stray quickly finds a home with Donovan and a place in his heart. Although the Army did not have an official canine division, Rags accompanies Donovan to the battlefield, making himself a useful companion delivering messages and providing a much-appreciated morale boost to the soldiers.

Conestoga Wagons by Richard Ammon (2000)

This illustrated book explains how Conestoga wagons were built and driven as well as their historical significance and importance to the early American economy.

Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler and Kurt Cyrus (2006)

This storybook follows a pack of woolly mammoths as they trek south for the winter, braving fierce storms, deadly predators and raging rivers while making their slow journey across the gorgeous unspoiled lands of this continent until finally they reach their goal.

The Buffalo are Back by Jean Craighead George (2010)

The buffalo, an American icon once nearly extinct, has made a comeback. This stirring picture book tells the dramatic story, following bison from the Plains American Indians to the cowboys, Teddy Roosevelt to the Dust Bowl and from the brink of extinction to the majestic herds that now roam our national parks.

A Little House Picture Book Treasury: Six Stories of Life on the Prairie based on the stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2017)

This full-color collection includes six picture book stories adapted from the classic Little House books.

Fry Bread: A Native American Family History by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal (2019)

Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern American Indian family.

The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown (2013)

Don Brown brings the Dirty Thirties to life with kinetic, highly saturated and lively artwork in this graphic novel of one of America’s most catastrophic natural events: the Dust Bowl.