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4 books match the query 'Terman Cohen, Sheila'
Gaylord Nelson
Champion for Our EarthSheila Terman Cohen
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2010
Born in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, in 1916, Gaylord grew up as immersed in his parents' political work and community service as he was in playing practical jokes and exploring the natural world surrounding his home town. Along the way he encountered experiences that would shape him in fundamental ways: as a man who stood up for what he believed in the face of opposition and yet who also understood how to treat his opponents with respect. Both traits would serve him well as he rose from law student to state senator to Wisconsin governor and finally to three terms as a United States Senator.
Nelson fought to treat all races equally and to condemn McCarthy-era paranoia, but his greatest contribution was to sound the alarm about another battle: the fight to save the natural world and the earth itself. It was his idea to use teach-ins to let people know that the environment needed their help. Thanks to him, more natural resources were conserved and new laws demanded clean air and water. Now, every year on April 22, people all over the world plant trees and pick up litter to celebrate Earth Day. The Earth and its inhabitants aren't safe yet, but Gaylord Nelson demonstrated that even one person can help to save the world.
Mai Ya's Long Journey
Sheila Cohen
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2005
The story of Mai Ya Xiong and her family and their journey from the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand to a new life in Madison, Wisconsin, is extraordinary. Yet it is typical of the stories of the 200,000 Hmong people who now live in the United States and who struggle to adjust to American society while maintaining their own culture as a free people.
Mai Ya's Long Journey follows Mai Ya Xiong, a young Hmong woman, from her childhood in Thailand's Ban Vinai Refugee Camp to her current home in Wisconsin. Mai Ya's parents fled Laos during the Vietnam War and were refugees in Thailand for several years before reaching the United States. But the story does not end there. Students will read the challenges Mai Ya faces in balancing her Hmong heritage and her adopted American culture as she grows into adulthood.
Mai Ya’s Long Journey
Sheila Terman Cohen
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2027
A true story of courage, family, and the challenges and triumphs of building a life in a new place and culture.
Mai Ya Xiong arrived in Wisconsin with her family when she was just seven years old. Born in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand after her family fled war-torn Laos, Mai Ya knew no English, had never lived in a home with running water, and had never seen snow before. The Xiong family was part of the early wave of Hmong refugees who came to the United States from Southeast Asia in the 1980s with hopes of building new lives. Through hardship and loss, joy and perseverance, young Mai Ya navigated growing up in two worlds—maintaining Hmong traditions while learning the American way of life.
Mai Ya’s Long Journey offers young readers an inspiring and insightful window into life as a refugee and the experience of adapting to a new home, a new language, a new country, and new friends. In addition to examining Mai Ya’s school years, this updated edition of a beloved biography expands the story with Mai Ya’s journey into adulthood and parenthood, while also highlighting the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Hmong settlement in the United States. An afterword by Mai Ya reflects on her evolving understanding of identity, revealing how her desire to fit in as a child has transformed into a commitment to honor her heritage and pass Hmong values and customs on to her own children.
Blending biography and history, Mai Ya’s Long Journey expands the learning experience by sharing information about the Hmong language, spiritual traditions, and folklore as well as about American involvement in the Vietnam War. The book helps readers ages 8–11 understand the immigrant experience while celebrating the strength, determination, and cultural pride that continue to shape Hmong communities across the United States.
Sterling North and the Story of Rascal
Sheila Terman Cohen
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2015
This Badger Bio shares the story of author Sterling North – his adventures and misadventures as a young boy growing up in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Young readers will learn how North’s early experience in Wisconsin influenced him in writing some of his best loved children’s books – such as Rascal and So Dear To My Heart.
The story gives readers a glimpse of early 20th century customs and lifestyles in the rural Midwest. It also includes global issues of the time, including World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic, which greatly affected Sterling’s boyhood. As examples, his admired older brother Hershel served overseas in WWI as Sterling was growing up, bringing world events to the North family’s doorstep. His mother Gladys died when Sterling was only 7 years old because of the lack of medical advances in the early 1900s. And, as a young man, Sterling was hit by polio, a common epidemic scourge that left many children with paralysis.
Readers will learn of Sterling North’s successes, not only as a beloved author of children’s books, but as a columnist for the Chicago Daily News, an editor of North Star children’s history books, and a well-respected critic of other children’s literature.