Watch: The House That She Built Featured in Library Story Time
The House That She Built, a children’s book written to break stereotypes about home building and introduce construction trades to a new generation of girls, was recently featured in a story time reading at a public library in North Dakota.
Sara Bender, a member of the Professional Women in Building (PWB) council at the Bismarck-Mandan HBA, and Traci Juhala, Head of Youth Services for the Bismarck Public Library, worked together to present The House That She Built during a recent story time at the library.
“Sara approached us about this great book that came out that the PWB Council wanted to share with the community,” said Juhala. “We were lucky to be able to tie it into a financial literacy exhibit we have going on at the library right now. It was just a perfect fit because we were looking for some real-world examples about kids being aware of money in their lives and it was just this wonderful partnership that developed.”
Bender and Juhala were featured in a segment on local CBS affiliate KX News. Watch the interview.
The Real-World House That She Built Project
NAHB’s PWB Council supports similar councils at state and local HBAs across the country. The PWB Council in Utah decided that they were going to build a house with all women contractors because just three percent of jobsite workers in home building are women.
The building project goal was to illustrate to kids that women can work in the construction industry too.
The House That She Built is a children’s book published by NAHB BuilderBooks featuring the real house. Find out more about The House That She Built and how to add it to a child’s bookshelf at shebuiltbook.com.
You can help support the national and local PWB Councils during PWB Week, Sept. 12-16.
Latest from NAHBNow
Dec 09, 2025
Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest Level in Over a YearThe average mortgage rate continued to trend lower in November to its lowest level in over a year. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.24% in November, 2 basis points (bps) lower than in October.
Dec 08, 2025
HOAs are on the Rise Again for New HomesFrom 2009 to 2020, more and more new single-family homes were built within a community or homeowner’s association. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a decade-long trend began to dip but the most recent data shows an upswing again.
Latest Economic News
Dec 08, 2025
Community Associations: A Growing Trend in 2024In 2024, 65.7% of all new single-family homes started were built within a community or homeowner’s association. This share increased from the 64.8% recorded in 2023, according to data tabulated from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC).
Dec 05, 2025
Mortgage Rates Continue to Trend Lower in NovemberThe average mortgage rate in November continued to trend lower to its lowest level in over a year. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.24% in November, 2 basis points (bps) lower than in October. Meanwhile, the 15-year rate increased 3 bps to 5.51%.
Dec 04, 2025
Number of Bathrooms in New Single-Family Homes in 2024Single-family homes started in 2024 typically had two full bathrooms, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Construction. Homes with three full bathrooms continued to have the second largest share of starts at around 23%. Meanwhile, both homes with four full bathrooms or more and homes with one bathroom or less made up under ten percent of homes started.