New Releases by Jeri Chase Ferris

Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Webster’s American Dictionary is the second most popular book ever printed in English. But who was that Webster? Noah Webster (1758–1843) was a bookish Connecticut farm boy who became obsessed with uniting America through language. He spent twenty years writing two thousand pages to accomplish that, and the first 100 percent American dictionary was published in 1828 when he was seventy years old. This clever, hilariously illustrated account shines a light on early American history and the life of a man who could not rest until he’d achieved his dream. An illustrated chronology of Webster’s life makes this a picture perfect bi-og-ra-phy [noun: a written history of a person''s life].

Mary Ann Shadd Cary spent her entire lifetime fighting for justice and equality for African Americans. Born a free African American in the 1820s, Cary started schools for black children and wrote books and articles. She was also the first black woman to publish a weekly newspaper and to enter law school. Never afraid of offending anyone, Cary demanded justice for herself and for her fellow African Americans.

Recounts the life of Biddy Mason, a slave who found freedom in California in 1856, who practiced the philosophy of sharing as she nursed the sick, delivered babies, and started many philanthropic projects after becoming a wealthy landowner in Los Angeles.