Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell

"I  saw a peanut stand, heard a rubber band,
I  saw a needle that winked it's eye"
--  Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace, "When I See an Elephant  Fly"
I  just thought of that song, because in the wake of reading WHO SAYS WOMEN
CAN'T  BE DOCTORS? I was contemplating for a moment the notion of when we
might see the  first female pope.
But  on a more serious note, there are certainly strong betting odds that
we will see  a woman in the Oval Office in the relatively near future. And
South Koreans just  elected their first female president.
I  keep going back to what it was like for women when I was a kid in the
late  fifties and early sixties and how the world has so drastically changed
for women  over the past half-century in ways that makes it so exciting to be
alive in  2013, talking to young women about Title IX and why we see so
many women doctors  and lawyers and judges and astronauts today in contrast to
just fifty years  ago.
And  if you think fifty years ago was bad...
"On  January 23, 1849, Elizabeth graduated...with the highest grades in the
whole  class!
She  had become the first woman doctor in America.
Although  many people were proud, others were angry. One doctor even wrote,
'I hope for  the honor of humanity, that [she] will be the last.'"
What  I love most about Tanya Lee Stone's tale of America's first female
doctor is  that Blackwell pursued this groundbreaking route after a good
friend of hers  urged Elizabeth to consider doing so. And I think this is such a
great lesson  for everyone: Urge your friends to be everything they can be.
Urge them to think  big. Urge them to think outside of the box. Urge them to
go places that no one  has ever visited. And then treat yourself the same
way.
Amidst  Priceman's lively illustrations, I particularly like the visual
interpretation  of Blackwell as "The kind of girl who wouldn't take the  bait."
A  very informative Author's Note provides many additional details about
Elizabeth  Blackwell's life. That note concludes by pointing out that "more
than half of  all U.S. medical school students today are women."
You  go girls!  40 pages
Richie  Partington, MLIS, Librarian California
Richie's Picks _https://richiespicks.com_