Florence Nightingale

Perfect for children aged 8+, this accessible biography of Florence Nightingale's life shows us why we still remember her today - 200 years after her birth (May 1820).

Not only did Florence improve the lives of British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War, but as a professional and hard-working, extremely clever public-health reformer she led the establishment of a training school for nurses, better designed hospitals, improved sanitation and the idea of healthcare for all (leading eventually to the NHS). All this at a time when girls and women were expected to live their lives in the private sphere of marriage and home.

The book is packed with images of objects, photographs and sketches to illuminate her life story, including her pet owl, her wooden lunchbox and her travelling medicine chest. Then there are her books, and her endless lists and reports (she was fantastic with statistics), and of course the famous Turkish lantern she bought from a market in Istanbul and used to light her way down the corridors and wards of the military hospital at Scutari.

Sarah Ridley has an enduring interest in history, the natural world and many other topics which has made her work as an editor and writer of children's information books endlessly fascinating. Some of her books have been shortlisted or longlisted for information book awards, including Dear Jelly Family Letters from the First World War and Suffragettes and the Fight for the Vote. Sarah lives in Colchester with her husband and her student daughter's guinea pigs.

Perfect for children aged 8+, this accessible biography of Florence Nightingale's life shows us why we still remember her today - 200 years after her birth (May 1820). Not only did Florence improve the lives of British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War, but as a professional and hard-working, extremely clever public-health reformer she led the establishment of a training school for nurses, better designed hospitals, improved sanitation and the idea of healthcare for all (leading eventually to the NHS). All this at a time when girls and women were expected to live their lives in the private sphere of marriage and home. The book is packed with images of objects, photographs and sketches to illuminate her life story, including her pet owl, her wooden lunchbox and her travelling medicine chest. Then there are her books, and her endless lists and reports (she was fantastic with statistics), and of course the famous Turkish lantern she bought from a market in Istanbul and used to light her way down the corridors and wards of the military hospital at Scutari.

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