by Don Brown & illustrated by Don Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2001
Brown (Mary Kingsley in Africa, 2000, etc.) relies on Anna Howard Shaw’s autobiography as the inspiration for his account of a woman whose pioneer background prepared her for the causes she championed in her adult life. “By most measures, Anna Howard Shaw’s life was hard and filled with struggle. But Anna used her own scale and kept her own measurements, and that made all the difference.” So begins the story of a young girl who survived a perilous crossing of the Atlantic, settled in Massachusetts, and then spent one and a half years in the Michigan wilds, where the family was 100 miles from the railroad and 40 miles from a post office. Although Anna learned to hook fish with the iron wires from her hoop skirts and chop sod with an ax to plant corn and potatoes, she didn’t have any schooling. But there were books and she read histories, novels, and math texts until she knew them by heart. She was a schoolteacher at 15 and eventually graduated from college and received a medical degree—highly unusual for a woman in her time. She became a minister and was angered by the fact that women’s wages were half of what a man earned. She spoke to people around the world, battling for women to win the right to vote since that was, to her, the first step to independence for women. Anna Shaw died one year before the woman’s right to vote became law. Elegant phrasing and seamless narration complement pastel watercolors. The paintings are especially effective in conveying the mood of the text. Quiet, lovely scenes of the forest are in contrast to the lively scenes of the children carrying out chores. An author’s note fleshes out the details of this extraordinary woman’s life. (Biography. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-08362-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
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by Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick L. McKissack ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1991
Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) was a journalist whose lifelong fight against discrimination began at age 16. A founder of the N.A.A.C.P., she was most effective in speaking and writing against the horror and injustice of lynching. Her story is outlined here in simple yet lively prose. Like the others in the new ``Great African Americans'' series (Ralph J. Bunche; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Marian Anderson), this serves as an introduction, the didactic feel exacerbated by boldfacing terms defined in a glossary and by the utilitarian line drawings that, with b&w photos, appear as illustrations. These will be more effective in the classroom than as additions to juvenile collections. No bibliography, sources, or index. (Biography. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-89490-301-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enslow
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991
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by Patricia C. McKissack ; illustrated by April Harrison
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by Patricia C. McKissack ; illustrated by Christopher Cyr
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edited by Patricia C. McKissack ; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
by Alice McGill ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999
A sneeze and a cow kicking over the milk launches this true tale of a 17-year-old dairymaid in England in 1683; Molly was subsequently accused of stealing her lordship’s milk and brought before a court. Sentenced to seven years of bondage in America, she then struck out on her own, staked a claim and raised tobacco. She bought an African slave named Bannaky, who taught her about irrigation and crop rotation; when they fell in love, she freed him so that they could be legally married. Molly eventually taught her grandson, the famed Benjamin Banneker, how to read and write. McGill’s telling is fine and sure, except for an unwieldy flashback in the beginning that explains a previous spilling of milk. Soentpiet adds to the drama of the story with bold, atmospheric paintings. The problem comes in the matching of text to art; the pacing, for children, is horrible at first, with a scene of Molly facing a courtroom of stone-faced men before she has even spilled the milk (the text to gets the courtroom mid- paragraph). Later, the scene of her working for someone else with two oxen is too similar to her striking out on her own with one ox; the scene of her realizing she can’t manage on her own shows several other people working alongside her. These don’t destroy the suspense, but will compromise the accessibility of the story for children. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-72287-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
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by Alice McGill & illustrated by Jude Daly
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by Alice McGill & illustrated by Don Tate
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