Once books kick-start their brains, girls change history. Discover the foundation of reading that empowered some of the world’s most influential women in this informative and inspirational illustrated middle grade collection of twenty biographies. What do Cleopatra, Audre Lorde, and Taylor Swift have in common? They’re all influential women who grew up doing one very important thing: reading. This collection of short-form biographies tells the story of twenty groundbreaking women and how their childhood reading habits empowered them to change the world. From Cleopatra to Sally Ride to Amanda Gorman, the women featured in this collection are from all throughout history and all kinds of backgrounds. They are women who have and who continue to change the game in STEM, literature, politics, sports, and more. Most importantly, they are women who were born to read. For some, reading was forbidden, but they taught themselves to read anyway. For some, reading was a struggle, but they practiced and grew to love it. For some, reading was an escape from difficult realities. For all, reading was empowering.

Gaining the skills to critically read a wide variety of informational texts is more important than ever for today's K-12 students. This carefully crafted book offers 40 standards-based instructional activities that teachers can immediately put to use in the classroom. Clear rationales and step-by-step instructions are provided for implementing each strategy, together with helpful classroom examples and suggested texts for different grade levels. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes 44 reproducible worksheets. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials. (Prior edition title: 35 Strategies for Guiding Readers through Informational Texts.) New to This Edition *Now features more strategies, including 16 that are completely new. *Explicit links throughout to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and other current standards. *Two additional strands of activities: Reading Closely and Discussion. *Numerous new and revised reproducible tools--all downloadable.