By Susan Hughes, illustrated by Val\u00e9rie Boivin \u2013 <\/b>Kids Can Press, 2018<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Positive images of aging can be hard to find, especially in children\u2019s literature, and when a children\u2019s book features an older woman as the heroine and role model on the jacket, it catches our eye. To our delight, the inspiring text inside is just as bold and engaging. As an author and activist, Jane Jacobs made a notable impact on urban studies and sociology. This charming biography follows her from her restless childhood to her lifelong battle to get people to appreciate cities as ecosystems that support people rather than skyscrapers and cars. Jane was a child of integrity\u2014she was sent home from school for refusing to make a promise to a teacher that she couldn\u2019t keep. That sense of right took her into community activism to keep urban neighborhoods operating \u201clike sidewalk ballets\u201d where people coexist with nature and their neighbors. Jane doesn\u2019t shy away from a powerful city planner (Robert Moses) and organizes like-minded New Yorkers in, not a ribbon-cutting, but a ribbon-tying ceremony to close Central Park to traffic. If you have a budding activist in your life, don\u2019t miss this information-rich, beautifully told, picture-book story. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Positive images of aging can be hard to find, especially in children\u2019s literature, and when a children\u2019s book features an older woman as the heroine and role model<\/span><\/p>\n