This event will be held IN PERSON at Print: A Bookstore. Please note that PROOF OF VACCINATION IS REQUIRED for entry, and MASKS COVERING THE NOSE AND MOUTH MUST BE WORN while in the store.
Join us for an evening with Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Elisa Boxer as they discuss their picture book biographies about barrier-breaking heroes who challenged the conventions of their time. This event will include book giveaways for educators and librarians!
WE WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!: THE FIGHT FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS
There was a time in the United States when millions of children with disabilities weren't allowed to go to public school. But in 1971, seven kids and their families wanted to do something about it. They knew that every child had a right to an equal education, so they went to court to fight for that right. The case Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia led to laws ensuring children with disabilities would receive a free, appropriate public education. Told in the voice of Janine Leffler, one of the millions of kids who went to school because of these laws, this book shares the true story of this landmark case.
FIGHTING FOR YES!: THE STORY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST JUDITH HEUMANN
From a very young age, Judy Heumann heard the word NO. When she wanted to attend public school, the principal said, "NO." When she wanted her teaching license, the New York Board of Education said, "NO." Judy and people with disabilities everywhere were tired of hearing “NO.”
In the 1970s an important disability rights law, Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, was waiting to be signed. Judy and other disability rights activists fought for “YES!” They held a sit-in until Section 504 was signed into law. Section 504 laid the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was established thanks in large part to the ongoing work of Judy and her community.
Along with a personal reflection from Judy herself, this picture book biography captures the impact and influence of one of America’s greatest living activists.
SPLASH!: ETHELDA BLEIBTREY MAKES WAVES OF CHANGE
Ethelda Bleibtrey was a girl with guts who loved the water. As a child with polio in the early 1900s, swimming set her free. The water released her from her pain and helped her build strong muscle--and a powerful spirit. From then on, from the New York beaches to the choppy waters of the 1920 Olympics to the Central Park Reservoir, Ethelda made a splash wherever she went. For Ethelda, doing the right thing sometimes came with a price--change often does--but Ethelda helped make the world better than how she found it. Splash.
COVERED IN COLOR: CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE'S FABRICS OF FREEDOM
Christo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) are renowned for their large-scale, ambitious art installations that wrapped landmarks and swaths of land in fabric, including Berlin’s Wrapped Reichstag, Paris’s The Pont Neuf Wrapped, and concluding with New York City’s The Gates in Central Park (2005).
This lively biography chronicles Christo's humble childhood in Soviet-controlled Bulgaria—under a regime that suppressed individuality and creativity—to his international fame as a bold (and controversial) innovator in the art world. Christo discovered an early love of art and found a way to make a living out of his passion by wrapping bottles, cans, stacks of magazines, and even an air conditioner. When he met his wife, Jeanne-Claude, they moved to New York City as undocumented immigrants and became equal partners in both life and work—he, the artist, and she, the dealmaker.
Together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude made elaborate, visually stunning installations that transformed public spaces around the world, all free to the public. Christo never explained why he felt compelled to wrap things in fabric—rather, his work celebrated individual interpretation and the simple joy of seeing something familiar in a new way. And though each work was temporary, their awe-inspiring designs, uniting nature with the manmade, stayed with viewers long afterward. Covered in Color inspires readers to appreciate the beauty around us, however fleeting, and to push the boundaries of "possible."
