Here Come the Girl Scouts! - Language During Mealtime

“The work of to-day is the history of to-morrow, and we are it’s maker.” (Here Come the Girl Scouts, 2012)

When my daughter and I discovered at our local library, Here Come the Girl Scouts! The Amazing All True Story of Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure, we were immediately drawn to the story. Lately, my daughter and I have been very interested in non fiction picture books, especially about topics that we can relate to such as the Girl Scouts.

Here Come the Girl Scouts! written by Shana Corey and illustrated by Hadley Hooper was immediately interesting to both my son and daughter. The book begins with the statement, “Daisy was a girl with gumption.” This immediately began the conversation about “What is gumption?” which is described on the opposite page, “courage”, “spunk”, “initiative” and “wit”. The author takes your through the adventurous and exciting life of Girl Scouts founder, Juliette Gordon Law (always known as Daisy). The engaging text and interesting illustrations immediately draws in a child’s attention. The book gives factual information about the history of how the Girl Scouts were created with valuable lessons for children to learn that are embedded in the story.

I love reviewing books with empowering and unique characters that change the world. As you are reading this book to your child, pause and define key words that are important to the story. Words such as “honorable”, “loyal” and “thrifty” are just some words to get started with. As you are reading, use various strategies such as the Think Aloud strategy and/or Jotting to keep notes on the book as you are reading it. This is a book that can be read over and over again and contains interesting facts for both children and adults. In the back of the book, the author Shana Corey shares a page of influential women with more facts about Daisy and the history of the Girl Scouts.

I was fascinated by this book and wanted to learn more by connecting with the author, Shana Corey. Thank you Shana for answering my questions! To learn more about Shana, check out her website here.

1. What inspired you to write this book, Here Come the Girl Scouts?

My mom was a Girl Scout in Savannah, Georgia (where the Girl Scouts were founded) in the 1950s and I grew up hearing her stories about camp outs and parades, admiring her badge sash, and visiting the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace when we visited Savannah. When I realized there wasn’t a picture book about Juliette Gordon Low, I decided to write one-partly to satisfy my own curiosity (I love researching and wanted to research her!) and partly because I find the story of Juliette Gordon Low and the Girl Scouts history to be very empowering, and I wanted to share that with Girl Scouts today.

2. How do you think Girl Scouts have changed over the years?

Juliette Gordon Low and the Girl Scouts were both pretty ahead of their time when the Girl Scouts began in 1912. I think the Girl Scouts was always a progressive, girl centered organization and am very happy that it has continued to be so (and the Girl Scouts commitment to empowering girl leaders has only grown over the years). It’s gotten a lot bigger in the last 106 years (from the eighteen girls at the first meeting to last time I checked over 3 million girls across the globe). The cookie sale started in the 1930s and that’s now something most people associate with Girl Scouts now (Mmmmm. thin mints!). The world itself has changed (women couldn’t vote in 1912! There was no internet) and the Girls Scouts has changed along with it (there are robotics and coding badges now, and not only can women vote, but Girl Scouts have grown up to run for president). I think at its heart though, the Girl Scouts has stayed very true to itself and Juliette Gordon Low would absolutely recognize what she started in the organization today.

3. Daisy is such an empowering character. What would you like young readers to learn from reading this book? That being outside the box–like Daisy was-is a GREAT thing. That going outside is good for our souls. That we can try new things and make a difference no matter how old we are.

Do you want to learn more?

Here Come the Girl Scouts Shana Corey Interview from Expanded Books on Vimeo.