An outstanding and inspirational guide to women’s history for today’s political activists.
Explains how women in the U.S. won the right to vote, with applicable lessons for youth today.
The authors, friends from two powerful U.S. political families that have been intertwined for three generations, set out to write a quick guide showing how suffragists changed the country by securing women’s voting rights. The tale spans the long journey from the 1848 Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. This complicated story includes an overview of many key leaders, in-group fighting, and various setbacks. The book distills the complexities into vivid biographies and compelling vignettes that breathe new life into old history. Readers meet many familiar names, including Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frederick Douglass, as well as less well-known individuals. The White authors do not shy away from addressing racism within the movement, highlighting Black suffragists and noting everyone’s race so that Whiteness is not the default. Each chapter title is a synopsis of a strategy (for example, “Tell Your Story,” “Engage a Wider Audience,” and “Recruit the Allies You Need”), and each chapter begins and ends with sage advice to readers about how to apply the successful tactics of the suffragists to today’s political struggles. The bright, clean layout and color scheme are visually enticing, making this an appealing manual for action.
An outstanding and inspirational guide to women’s history for today’s political activists. (source notes) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1033-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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