Becca Stadtlander

"Emily Dickinson, who famously wrote Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul is brought to life in this moving story. In a small New England town lives Emily Dickinson, a girl in love with small things—a flower petal, a bird, a ray of light, a word. In those small things, her brilliant imagination can see the wide world—and in her words, she takes wing. From celebrated children's author Jennifer Berne comes a lyrical and lovely...

"Scientist. Artist. Rule-breaker. In 1882, Marianne North showed the gray city of London paintings of jaw-dropping greenery like they’d never seen before. Images of flowers, birds, and insects from around the world delighted viewers. How did this remarkable woman capture such pictures? By traipsing across swamps, deserts, and jungles on foot, by horse, and even by log raft. Marianne was a wild bird who not only refused to let Victorian gender norms...

"Nobody could get Frederick Law Olmsted to sit still. He was filled with energy, adventure, and dreams of changing the world. As a boy, he found refuge in the peace and calm of nature, and later as an adult, he dreamed of designing and creating access to parks for a growing and changing America. When New York City held a contest for the best park design for what would become Central Park, Olmsted won and became the father of landscape architecture....

What would Little Women be without the charms of the March family's cozy New England home? Or Wuthering Heights without the ghost-infested Wuthering Heights? Getting lost in the setting of a good book can be half the pleasure of reading, and Decorating a Room of One's Own brings literary backdrops to the foreground in this wryly-affectionate satire of interior design reporting. English professor and humorist Susan Harlan spoofs decorating culture...

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Did you ever wonder who wrote that famous verse? In the days when most girls were brought up to run a home, Jane Taylor had a different kind of education in the English countryside, where she was inspired by nature and the stars, and dreamed of becoming a writer. But in the late 1700s, it was not considered proper for women to be writers. Jane and other female poets were shunned, unable to...