Some of my favourite children’s books are the lovely series by Andrea Beaty. These books are joyous representations of the positive hopeful side of America, and show us that history isn’t just rich white dudes tellin’ everyone what to do. The series features young plucky racially diverse girls learning to be engineers (inspired by Rosie the Riveter) or taking on local politics under the spiritual guidance of Ida B. Wells. I can’t think of a more fitting text for November 2020 than Sofie Valdez (Future Pres) and the Vanishing Vote.
Ada Twist is the best of the series, about a curious little child who cannot stop formulating different hypotheses and putting them to the test, in the process trashing her parents’ incredibly stylish brown and cream 1970s interiors. She’s named Ada Marie Twist after Ada Lovelace, the nineteenth century mathematician who published the first ever computer algorithm, and Marie Curie, the chemist who discovered polonium, radium and radioactivity.
Here Ada gets thinking about the source of a curious stinking. I love the array of beautifully illustrated perfume bottles here; I can definitely identify Brut, Old Spice and a Byredo bottle. Total perfume collection envy.
