I am so glad I got introduced to the Little People, Big Dreams (or LPBD) series now – better late than never, right! While my kids are way too old for these books now (and of course, me too!), if you have been reading my blog for a while now, you know I adore these books for the very young. They provide a respite from the other reading I do 🙂

This series is simply wonderful – how did I not see these before? Anways, as part of the theme I set for myself for this month, I am featuring the ladies (well, some of them) from the Little People, Big Dreams series today with mini-reviews for these mini-books.

So here are LPBD – The Ladies:

Description: (for the series):

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Ella Fitzgerald

The words are sweet and put a smile on my face; and the illustrations have these little details that if you look, add a lot to the story. So go ahead and have fun playing ‘I Spy’ games, discuss the stories the pictures tell you, and simply enjoy the story and the illustrations! The book, while short, seamlessly introduces us to Ella and tells a lot of her life, while also including fun facts about her. All this is done in 12 pages – astounding indeed!

Ada Lovelace

I was reading another biography of Ada Lovelace, which left me a little underwhelmed and sad. But this 12-paged book introduces us to Ada exactly how she should be remembered. A brilliant woman without whose efforts the modern computer might have taken some more time to come into effect, a true STEM pioneer and champion! And that is wonderful.

Maria Montessori

I thought I fairly knew who she was but this picture book, in a few short pages, proved me wrong! Both my kids attended Montessori preschools for a couple of years before we moved them to one that was closer by. We and they enjoyed their time at these schools; as do so many other kids across the world. Maria Montessori, before she developed this worldwide network of schools was the first girl in Italy to study medicine …..:) and I learned this from this LPBD book!

Vivienne Westwood

I also had a chance to look at Vivienne Westwood’s book but I am not sure what went wrong with my downloaded ARC that I could not see the text. Since this is an eARC, and only happened (looks like, to me), I have reported the issue to NetGalley. But I did include this here since I could see the illustrations (no text – that was the issue) and they were brilliant and told me a story I could follow 🙂 A picture does tell a thousand words..

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books) for the eARCs of the above books All reviews include my honest opinions of the books.

A Few Others (in the Series):

Once I discovered these above, I had to venture out and find what else they have. And while I have not yet gotten to all of them, I picked a few from the library and others for myself (to gift later:)) from stores. My views about this series – be it the board books (their very first books introducing them to these wonderful people) or the picture books for the beginning readers – remain the same.

The stories are told in a language appropriate for the intended audience, even in those cases where the story might include the less happier aspects of that person’s life. In the end, each story highlights the inspiration that needs to be drawn from the featured person.

The illustrations pack a punch all their own. Because the illustrators vary across the books, the style is different. But they all pop with color and are full of details that the observant reader can enjoy looking at and getting more out of the story!

Here are some of the other ‘LPBD – the Ladies’:) that I truly enjoyed. My comments above stand true for each of them. The below are all picture books for beginning readers.

In Summary: (for all the books featured today)

These books are adorable, admirable, and works of art all rolled together with a dose of inspiration for the youngest audiences! Buy the whole set for that little one you know 🙂

I know I am going use these as gifts in the future. And work on reading the others in the series as well soon.

Rating: A; and the board books are for up to 5 years of age while the picture books are for 5 to 8 year olds.

Towards It’s Monday, What are You Reading? hosted over at Teach Mentor Texts.