A captivating, respectful portrait of a dynamic American woman who made history.
Dare to ask questions; dare to demand answers.
As a child, Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) questioned why women couldn’t vote. She became a tireless fighter in the battle for women’s suffrage and marched, made speeches, and traveled around the United States to promote the cause. Eventually, she questioned the movement itself because Black and working-class White women were excluded. Carrie also asked why strategies to attract women to the movement couldn’t be more creative. In New York, she and her romantic partner Mary Garrett Hay galvanized women into bold, exciting action. The First World War proved the turning point: The men of New York state—who voted in favor of women’s suffrage in 1917, after acknowledging they’d filled male jobs when men went to war—and President Woodrow Wilson took note. In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting voting rights to all American women (though the book doesn’t specifically note that many Black women were still deprived of that right for decades, backmatter states that the right to vote “was, and still is, often denied to many U.S. citizens"). This concise, insightful account allows readers to focus on the salient points of Catt’s work and should inspire them to follow suit and support causes they are passionate about. Energetic, humorous visuals are enhanced by varied fonts and playful text placements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A captivating, respectful portrait of a dynamic American woman who made history. (author’s note, about Carrie Chapman Catt, photo) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781454934578
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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