Women's History Month Book Review: Clara and Davie: the True Story of Young Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross, by Patricia Polacco (Scholastic, 2014)

Recommended for ages 6-12.

Patricia Polacco is one of our great contemporary picture book authors, and specializes in picture books with serious content such as racism, disabilities, and even cancer, making them appropriate for older elementary school readers.  In her newest book, which fits in perfectly for Women's History Month, she explores the girlhood of one of the most famous female figures of the 19th century, Clara Barton.

Clara was the fifth child to be born into the Barton family in Massachusetts, and with her mother in ill health, she was virtually raised by her siblings, particularly her older brother Davie, whom she adored.  Joyous illustrations in Polacco's signature style show Davie showing Clara how to ride on a horse while she flings her arms in the air in delight.  She helped Davie with his chores on the farm, and had an immediate affinity for nature and particularly with animals.  But she had a speech impediment that made her shy and afraid of people; because no one understood this sort of problem in that day, her older sister punished her for not speaking correctly.  School was a nightmare for her, and finally her parents agreed she could be taught at home.  Even as a young girl, Clara had healing hands and neighbors let her treat their farm animals.  When Clara's beloved brother Davie breaks both legs in an accident, she becomes his nurse and with her coaxing, urges him back to health, giving him the courage to try to walk again.

This is a touching introduction to a famous woman from history from a unique perspective--her love for her brother.  Children will be able to easily identify with Clara's inhibitions, her love for nature, and animals, and her desire to help her brother heal.  An author's note tells more about Barton's career as a teacher, nurse, and founder of the American Red Cross.  In an intriguing historical twist, we learn that Patricia Polacco herself is distantly related to Clara Barton, on her mother's side of the family, and they own a vase which is reputed to once have belonged to Clara Barton herself.

See Mary Ann Scheuer and Louise Capizzio's post on Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month for more great suggestions on how to pair this book with other resources on Clara Barton.

Women's History Month Book Review: Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holliday and the Dog Who Loved Her, by Amy Novesky (Harcourt Children's Books, 2013)

Recommended for ages 5 and up.

Amy Novesky's most recent picture book, Mister and Lady Day, an ode to jazz great Billie Holiday and her pet dogs, just arrived at my library in time for Women's History Month.

This is Amy's fourth book on prominent female figures in cultural history; she has also penned Me, Frida (on artist Frida Khalo), Georgia in Hawaii (on artist Georgia O'Keefe), Imogen (on photographer Imogen Cunningham).  She is currently working on a picture book on sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

Billie Holiday's tragic life. which included working as a prostitute, living in a workhouse with her mother, drug addiction, a prison sentence, and more, might not seem like a natural fit for a picture book for young children, and indeed, this side of Holiday's life does not appear in Novesky's book.  Novesky focused instead on Holiday's love for her many dogs, and in particular for her boxer named Mister.  Love for a dog, of course, is a theme that children identify easily with, as do many adults (OK, I'm a sucker for a good dog story).

We first meet Billie Holiday as a young girl, dreaming of being a star, singing on a borrowed gramophone.  Illustrator Vanessa Brantley Newton, whose charming illustrations are done with gouache and charcoal with collage elements, depicts Billie in a beautiful setting on a fancy chair, dressed up with a bow in her hair (perhaps a bit fanciful given the realities of her childhood!).  The next spread shows her already a star, the great Lady Day. (Illustrated 2-page spreads from the book can be seen on Novesky's website).   Novesky introduces a note of melancholy in the text from the beginning, by explaining that even stars need someone to listen to them, and that's the role Lady Day's dogs played.  We meet her small dogs, chihuahuas Pepe and Chiquita, her big dogs (a Great Dane named Gypsy, and finally her favorite dog of all, Mister, who we see in a fabulous illustration, walking with Billie on a leash wearing matching mink coats.  Instead of a sidewalk, they are walking on a piano keyboard, with the buildings of New York in the background.  Mister had the life of a star himself; he was so pampered he got to eat steak while she was performing in glamorous clubs, and he waited for her while she performed, even serving to keep eager fans at bay.

Novesky tells young readers that "Lady got into trouble. She had to leave home for a year and a day. And Mister couldn't come."  In an afterword, she explains that Billie Holiday was in fact in jail during that time for drug possession.  When she returned, Mister was there to welcome her, and even accompanied her to a grand concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.  The story ends on a hopeful note, with Billie singing her heart out, and Mister listening in the wings.

An author's note gives some more background on Holiday's life, appropriately omitting some of the uglier facts, and provides additional sources and a web resource.

There's no CD with the book, but readers could easily find CD's of Holiday's unique singing style at the library or on YouTube, which would enrich the story.

This is a moving yet charming book about a difficult subject, and could be integrated into units on Black History Month, Women's History Month, or jazz.

Women's History Month Book Review: Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud, by Tracey Fern (Margaret Ferguson Books, 2014)

Recommended for ages 7-12.

In this picture book for older readers. Tracey Fern tells the little-known story of Eleanor Prentiss, an extraordinary woman who not only navigated a clipper ship but also set a record for the fastest time from New York to San Francisco, navigating around Cape Horn in a record-breaking 89 days, 21 hours.

If you're an avid movie-goer like I am, you may have seen the two major films this year set at sea, Captain Phillips and All is Lost.  Such movies always make me think about the "olden days," when sailors navigated by the stars and a sextant.  Doesn't it seem incredible?  Even more incredible (but true) is the life of Eleanor Prentiss, born the daughter of a sea captain in 1814 and taught everything about ships, including navigation, by her father, perhaps because he had no sons.  Certainly this education was highly unusual for a 19th century girl. The sea was in Ellen's blood, and, not surprisingly, she married a sea captain, who took her along on his merchant ships as her navigator.

When Ellen's husband was given command of a new, super-fast clipper ship, Ellen seized the opportunity to get as quickly as possible from New York to the tip of South America to San Francisco and the Gold Rush.  Speed was of the essence for those looking for riches in the gold fields of California.  The book portrays the considerable dangers of the voyage, including a period when the ship was becalmed (no wind, no movement!) and also the perilous stormy waters of the Cape. Fern does a terrific job of capturing the excitement of the journey, and Ellen's triumph when she sets a world record for the fastest time for this 15,000 mile voyage.  The book is greatly enhanced by the beautiful water-color paintings of Caldecott-winning artist Emily Arnold McCully.  The seascapes, and particularly the scenes of storms, are particularly effective.  Back matter includes an author's note with further historical information, and suggestions for further reading, both books and websites, a glossary, and end pages which show a map of the Flying Cloud's 1851 Voyage.

Highly recommended for Women's History Month and for those looking for stories of strong, heroic women and girls!

Women's History Month Book Review: Florence Nightingale, by Demi (Henry Holt, 2014)

Women's History Month began on Saturday, March 1.  You can learn more about outstanding children's books on women's history by following the 4th annual group blog which I co-organize with fellow blogger/librarian Lisa Taylor, Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month, Once again we will feature posts from distinguished authors, illustrators, librarians and bloggers, and we invite you to participate in the conversation.  This year's contributors will include authors Tonya Bolden, Sandra Neil Wallace and Gretchen Woelfie, librarian Penny Peck, and many others.  In addition to the blog, you can also access our content on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.  While new content is published only in March, the blog is available all year long as a resource for librarians, parents, and educators.  Please join us in our 4th annual celebration!  

Here at the Fourth Musketeer I will also be highlighting books about women in history this month.  Today I will be reviewing Demi's newest book on Florence Nightingale.  Demi has published over 150 books during her long career, many of them large format biographical picture books aimed at elementary school-aged students.  In addition to their informative text, Demi's biographies showcase her unique artistic style, which features a strong Asian influence, traditional materials, intricate patterns, and vibrant, glowing colors.

 

When I was a girl in the 1960's and '70's, Florence Nightingale would have been one of the only women from history you would have been likely to find a book on in the children's biography section of your local library, although I would be reasonably certain that I could not have found a biography as beautifully illustrated as this new one.  On the end pages and title page, we see Florence as the iconic Lady of the Lamp.  The book unfolds in a traditional linear narrative, beginning with Florence's birth and girlhood.  She was born into a very wealthy British family, where she had all the advantages of an upper class upbringing.  But her interest in nursing and helping others began at a young age; Demi shows us Florence as a little girl playing hospital with her dolls.  Her interest in nursing intensified on a family trip to the Continent when in addition to seeing the tourist sights, she visited hospitals and charities.  Her parents were opposed to her becoming a nurse, but eventually relented when they saw her commitment.  

Demi's text and artwork show Florence's career progressing from working at a hospital for indigent women to her groundbreaking work nursing soldiers in the Crimean War, where she arranged for patients to get healthy food and water and stressed the need for cleanliness.  We see Florence wandering the wards at night with her lantern, earning her nickname, The Lady with the Lamp.  

Florence worked herself to exhaustion and suffered ill health later in her life.  Nonetheless, she continued to work for the poor and downtrodden in society, and inspired the founding of the International Red Cross.  

Demi's book not only provides an outline of Florence Nightingale's remarkable life but also considers her legacy as an extraordinary woman in history.  Back matter includes a timeline and suggestions for further reading.

This slim but powerful volume is a must for school and public libraries. 

Book Review: The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, 2014)

Recommended for ages 14 and up.

I first learned about the Grimke sisters of South Carolina through the Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month blog, as they were one of the Civil War era women profiled on storyteller Jim Weiss' CD Women in Blue or Gray:  True Stories from Both Sides of the Civil War.   I again heard their story in a PBS American Experience documentary aired in 2013, The Abolitionists.  But neither captured my imagination as completely as Sue Monk Kidd's fascinating new novel, The Invention of Wings, which focuses on the elder of the Grimke sisters, Sarah, and her slave, Handful.

The Grimke sisters, separated in age by 12 years, were born into a wealthy Charleston slave-owning family, and, like other young Southern women of their class, were expected to study French, drawing and other lady-like pursuits, then make a good match and raise a family.  As Kidd tells Sarah's story in the first person, beginning with her girlhood, she never fit into the hole society carved for her.

With her keen intellect, she yearned to become a lawyer like her brother, but her dreams of pursuing a career were ridiculed and then squashed by her family.  When presented with a slave on her 11th birthday, she tried to free the young girl, called Handful, but when her father ripped up the manumission papers she soon decided to teach the girl to read--the only sort of freedom she could offer her.  When her family found out, she was severely punished--all books were denied her--and so was the slave girl.  She takes comfort in the birth of her youngest sister, Angelina, and persuades her mother to make her the child's godmother, and thus begins a close relationship that went considerably beyond sisterly bonds.  Angelina, too, develops a horror of slavery, and we discover through the diary-like narrative that the Grimke sisters' destiny does not lay in Charleston, but rather in the North, where they become Quakers and become the first female soldiers for the abolitionist cause.  This, we must remember, at a time when the idea of women speaking in public places was unheard of.  At the same time, they were among the first to champion women's rights, even more shocking than taking up the cause of slaves.  Their scandalous behavior for the time made them famous around the United States.  Indeed, their anti-slavery pamphlets, addressed to Southern women, were best-sellers in their time, and were inspirational to Harriet Beecher Stowe in her writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Sarah Grimke

In alternating sections, we follow the life of Handful, the slave given to Sarah on her birthday.  Handful is a house slave, schooled in sewing like her mother, and becomes indispensable to the household.  While her life may have been better than a field slave, she craves for freedom, and pays a cruel price for her longing.  Her story is given equal weight to that of the Grimkes, and in an afterword the author describes how while Handful is fictional, she is based loosely on the actual slave that was given to Sarah Grimke on her birthday (although that individual died a few years later).  While the Grimkes' house slaves may be fictional, they are well developed characters, and their story is interwoven with a planned slave revolt orchestrated by Denmark Vesey, a free black historical figure who plays a substantial role in the novel.

While this is an adult novel, I would recommend it highly for high school and even middle school students who are interested in US history and women's history.  It is extremely well written and provides great insight into life at that time, as well as portraying two amazing sisters who were infamous in their time (described in the novel as the most famous women in the country) but who are sadly practically unknown today.  Their inspiring story would also be an excellent choice for a book club.

There are several books for children on the Grimkes, including Sisters Against Slavery:  A Story about Sarah and Angelina Grimke (Stephanie McPherson, 1999)  but no picture books.  Authors:  we need an outstanding new resource on these amazing women!

Book Review: Dear America: Down the Rabbit Hole, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Scholastic, 2013)

Recommended for ages 8-12.

The heroines in Scholastic's Dear America series seem to have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  In this new release, our heroine, Pringle Rose, moves from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Chicago right before the great Chicago fire of 1871.  Pringle and her younger brother, who is disabled, are orphaned when their parents are killed in a mysterious carriage accident.  Her father is a rich industrialist who has left her a fortune, but when Pringle overhears that her relatives are planning to institutionalize her brother, the two of them flee by train to a family friend in Chicago.  Not only does the author weave a suspenseful story about the fire and its aftermath, she weaves in a number of other social history themes:  the rise of the labor unions and labor unrest; women's rights; the treatment of disabled children at that period; and even the beginning of the animal rights movement.  As usual with this series, there is extensive back matter with more historical background, historical illustrations, photographs, maps, and in this instance, even recipes.

In this newest round of Dear America releases, Scholastic has contracted with some of our best writers for young people, and this particular volume is written by Newbery honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti.  Bartoletti is best known for her many nonfiction works on American and European history, including her most recently published historical work, They Called Themselves the KKK:  The Birth of an American Terrorist Group (2010).  She has also written a number of historical novels for young people as well as some picture books.

While critics often give short shrift to series books, the Dear America series is an example of one series in which the quality continues to be very high and the educational content well integrated into the narrative.  I hope Scholastic will continue to offer new entries in this series in the coming years.

Women's History Month Review: Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children, by Jan Pinborough (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013)

Recommended for ages 6-12.

Release date:  March 5, 2013

In her debut book for children, author Jan Pinborough offers a charming picture book biography of Anne Carroll Moore, an individual not well known among the general public but whose advocacy of library services for children are worthy of being celebrated in this handsome new volume released just in time for Women's History Month.

The book begins almost like a fairy tale:  "Once in a big house in Limerick, Maine, there lived a little girl named Annie Carroll Moore.  She had large gray eyes, seven older brothers, and ideas of her own."  We soon learn that Annie is a bit of a rebel, not content to do what a girl was supposed to do in those days.  She loved books, but in those days children weren't allowed in the library.  When she grew up, she went to New York City on her own to enroll in library school, and soon went to work in a library where they had something brand new--a room just for children, where Annie even read aloud to them.  An advocate for children, she later became head of the children's rooms at the New York Public Library's many branches.  At this time, children weren't allowed to take books home, since the librarians thought the children wouldn't bring them back.

Pinborough portrays Anne Carroll Moore's feisty personality with a constant refrain in the book:   "Miss Moore thought otherwise."  When a grand new central library was built in the city of New York, Miss Moore was responsible for creating and designing the special place for children, complete with child-sized furniture.  She brought authors, musicians and storytellers to entertain the children, and entertained them herself with her special doll Nicholas Knickerbocker and stories of his life.  Even when she retired, she continued educating librarians across the country on how to create wonderful libraries for children.

Back matter includes more details about Miss Moore, the "trailblazing librarian," and a list of sources.

The lively artwork by Debby Atwell, executed with brightly colored acrylics in a folk-art influenced style, is a wonderful match for Pinborough's breezy writing style.   Every children's librarian will want to have a copy of Pinborough's tribute to this remarkable woman on his or her shelf.  She was a true hero for librarians and children everywhere!  Check out the special website devoted to the book, an interview with the illustrator, Debby Atwell, at Kidsbiographers Blog, and watch for a special post by Jan Pinborough on Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month on March 7!

Black History Month Book Review: A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet, by Kathryn Lasky (Candlewick, 2012)

Recommended for ages 7-12.

Candlewick has recently reissued in beautiful full-color paperback editions several biographies of famous African-American women by Kathryn Lasky.  Earlier this month I reviewed Vision of Beauty:  The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker.  In A Voice of Her Own, Lasky shares the story of an equally extraordinary woman, Phillis Wheatley, known as the first black woman poet in America.

Lasky begins her book as a young girl is kidnapped from Africa and sold into slavery in America in 1761.  Through the girl's eyes, Lasky describes the harrowing journey from the west coast of Africa.  A powerful illustration, painted in acrylics, shows a terrified young girl huddled in the hold of the ship.  Upon arrival, she is purchased at a Boston slave market by the Wheatley family and given the name Phillis.  When we next meet Phillis, we learn that she has become no ordinary slave.  Mrs. Wheatley, realizing quickly how bright her new young slave was, decided to teach her to read and write, a sort of social experiment to see if an African could learn and understand the Bible.  While this sort of instruction was not illegal as it was in the South, it was nevertheless never done.

Phillis proved to be such an able student that she progressed beyond English to Latin and Greek, geography and mathematics--this at a time when few white women were offered this sort of education, and only the elite among white men.  Phillis was especially attracted to poetry, and had her first poem published when she was only fourteen years old.  Phillis became a celebrity in Boston, and was trotted out by her mistress to all the finest houses in town as a sort of curiosity.

Phillis Wheatley. Poems on Various Subjects. London, 1783

Ironically, Boston printers refused to publish a compilation of Wheatley's poems, refusing to believe that a Negro slave could have written them, even after a panel of distinguished Bostonians, including John Hancock, interviewed her and vouched for her.  Instead, the Wheatleys sent Phillis on a trip over the ocean to London, where she met a British publisher willing to publish her volume, and was received in the finest homes.  Returning to America when she learned her mistress was ill, she continued to write, even as Boston rebelled against the British.  After being published in London, her book sold well in Boston, and Phillis' fame grew.  She was even invited to meet General Washington after writing a poem in his honor.

In an epilogue, Lasky relates briefly the last years of Wheatley's life; after receiving papers freeing her from slavery from the Wheatleys, she married and had three children, all of whom died in infancy.  Her final poem, "Liberty and Peace," celebrated the end of the war, and she died in poverty at the age of thirty-one.

Back matter includes an index and a list of selected sources, as well as notes from the author and illustrator.  The text includes a few brief quotations from Wheatley's poems.

At a brief 38 pages, with beautiful and abundant color illustrations, this very accessible biography is one step up from a picture book, and could be read aloud in class or by parents as well as read independently by students in about third grade and up.  While the author provides plenty of information for a biographical report, the subject matter is fascinating and suitable for general reading as well as school assignments.  Phillis Wheatley's remarkable rise from an illiterate slave to a literary figure celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic is an inspiration to share with children, particularly during Black History Month or Women's History Month.

Book Review: Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909, by Michelle Markel (Balzer + Bray, 2013)

Recommended for ages 7 and up.

Get a jump on Women's History Month with this new picture book about Clara Lemlich, a remarkable 20th century labor leader.  Its author, Michelle Markel, will be contributing a post to 2013's Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month, so don't forget to sign up to follow the blog so you don't miss any of the fascinating posts!

Picture books about early 20th century Jewish women labor leaders are not exactly published every day in the picture book universe, so I was especially eager to read this new work, illustrated by award-winning illustrator Melissa Sweet, about Clara Lemlich, best known for organizing the shirtwaist makers' strike of 1909.

We first meet Clara as she is arriving in the United States, part of the mass of immigrants.  But Clara is different--she's "got grit, and she's going to prove it.  Look out, New York!"

Social justice is an overriding theme of this book, and we see through Clara's eyes the injustices of life in early 20th century America for the impoverished immigrants.  "This was not the America she'd imagined."  Girls are hired to make blouses for a few dollars a month, wages desperately needed to help support their families.  Markel vividly describes the factories in just a few words--only two toilets, one sink, and three towels for 300 girls to share, and better not be a few minutes late or bleed on a piece of cloth if you've pricked your finger or you'll lose half a day's pay or even be fired.

But little Clara Lemlich is not one to sit back and take it.  She organizes strikes, and despite being arrested repeatedly, and beaten, she is not easily silenced.  But she realizes that a general strike of all the garment workers is what's needed to make the bosses stand up and take notice, and at a union meeting, she calls for women to launch the largest walk-out ever.

Clara is the leader of the Revolt of the Girls, as the newspapers call it.  And eventually the owners meet some of their demands, including a shortened work week and better wages.  Markel ends her elegie to Lemlich on a hopeful note, emphasizing how Clara's actions helped thousands of workers.  "proving that in America, wrongs can be righted, warriors can wear skirts and blouses, and the bravest hearts may beat in girls only five feet tall."

An afterword provides further details about the history of the garment industry, and the role of Jewish immigrants in the business.  Strangely enough, Clara is never identified as Jewish in the main text of the book, although she is shown shouting in Yiddish for a general strike.  Back matter also includes a selected bibliography of general and primary sources.  I would have also liked to have seen something on Clara Lemlich's later life.  For example, she continued advocating for the oppressed her entire life, even helping to organize nursing home orderlies in the retirement home where she spent the end of her life.

Clara Lemlich

Melissa Sweet's remarkable illustrations integrate the garment industry in a very literal fashion into her depiction of Clara's life.  She uses watercolor, gouache, and mixed media, and pieces of fabric and sewing machine stitching are front and center in nearly every illustration.  Some of the illustrations are particularly moving, including the one in which rows and rows of factory workers are shown from directly above, with the hundreds of girls appearing faceless and indistinct from each other like cogs in a wheel.  I also loved the "girl power" illustration of Clara calling for a general strike--Sweet depicts Clara from behind, with hundreds of people in the audience raising their fists in solidarity and with her call for a strike in an oversized text balloon, with the word "Strayk!" (or strike!) in bright red lettering!

This is a must-have for anyone interested in exposing their children to important issues and people in the social justice movement, as well as outstanding women in history, those who chose to try to make a difference in an era when women were encouraged to make their dominion at home.  To learn more about Clara Lemlich, consult Markel's bibliography or check out the entry in the Jewish Women's archive on-line.

Book Review: Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker, by Kathryn Lasky (Candlewick, 2012)

Recommended for ages 7-12.

Candlewick Press has recently reissued in paperback Kathryn Lasky's biography of Sarah Breedlove Walker, originally published in 2000.  In a brief 48 pages, Lasky chronicles the life of this remarkable woman, born into poverty to former slaves, who became a highly successful entrepreneur and philanthropist.  Orphaned at the age of seven, Sarah had a difficult childhood, and married at the age of 14 to escape living with her sister and her cruel husband.  She eventually moved to St. Louis where she worked as a laundress and diligently saved to be able to give her daughter the education she never had.

Because of poor nutrition, Sarah's hair began to fall out, and she began to work on a formula that would produce healthy hair for African-American women.  After testing her products on herself, she began selling door-to-door, and eventually expanded her products into the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, a business empire which made her the wealthiest black woman in America.

In a brief, easy to read narrative, Lasky hits on the highlights of Walker's life, emphasizing how remarkable her success was in an era when she had two strikes against her--being female and being black.  My favorite scene in the book involves Waker attending a conference of African-American business leaders, all of whom (of course!) were men.  Lasky describes how Walker tried unsuccessfully to get the attention of Booker T. Washington, so that she could speak.  She finally sprang to her feet, relating how she came from the cotton fields of the South, promoting herself into the business of manufacturing hair goods.  "'My object in life is not simply to make money for myself, but to use part of what I make in trying to help others,' continued Madam Walker...With these words, Madam Walker proved herself more than equal to any man in that room."

Sarah Breedlove Walker

An epilogue describes Walker's commitment to philanthropy and to civil rights; her dying words were "I want to live to help my race."  Back matter also includes an illustrator's note an index, and selected sources.

Abundantly illustrated with beautiful full color watercolor paintings by Nneka Bennett, Lasky's book is an inspirational tale that could be read aloud or read independently by children in elementary school.

Book Review: Victoria Rebels, by Carolyn Meyer (Simon & Schuster, 2013)

Release date:  January 1, 2013

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Carolyn Meyer's series The Young Royals has examined the youth of many of history's most prominent royal female figures, including Queen Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, and Cleopatra.  It's perhaps inevitable that she would turn her attention to the most important female queen of the 19th century, a figure so prominent she gave her name to an entire historical period, Queen Victoria.  The book spans from 1827, when Victoria was eight years old, to 1843, by which time Victoria was a young queen with three children.

Meyer tells her story through diary entries based on Victoria's own diaries, which she began keeping at the age of thirteen.  (Note:  in 2012, the entire contents of these diaries were made available online).  T  As Meyer explains in an afterword, these diary entries were written in the knowledge that they would be read, at first by her mother and governess, and later by historians.  Meyer uses her imagination (and research of course) to describe what  Victoria is really feeling, but incorporates many of Victoria's stylistic quirks, such as an affection for writing in all capitals or underlining dramatically, to give the feel of her actual diaries.  

I really enjoyed this novel, and felt it did a terrific job of capturing Victoria's strong personality and opinions, both as a young girl and as an adult. We learn many details of Victoria's daily life, from her strained relationship with her mother and her advisor, Sir John, to her attachment to Dash, her mother's King Charles Spaniel.  Even when you're a privileged princess, you don't necessarily get your way, and Victoria's wishes are often thwarted by her mother or court intrigue.  Even when she becomes queen, her struggles with her mother are not over, although Victoria takes control of many aspects of her court, including her personal household.  In addition to dealing with all the intrigues of court life, Meyer also takes us into Victoria's confidence as she is wooed by and eventually weds her cousin Albert, the love of her life.  Even with Albert, however, there were inevitable conflicts, as the young couple tried to adjust to their different roles--queen, sovereign, wife, and mother, and prince consort, husband, and father.

An afterword provides additional information on the rest of Victoria's life and other historical notes, as well as a bibliography and a list of related websites to visit.

Those who read this novel should certainly get a copy of the DVD of The Young Victoria, the beautifully realized 2009 film starring an elegant Emily Blunt as the young monarch.  Another appealing novel for young readers with the young Victoria as a prominent character is Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela Maccoll (Chronicle, 2010).

Disclosure:  advance copy provided by publisher.

Book Review: Annie and Helen, by Deborah Hopkinson and Raul Colon (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2012)

Recommended for ages 6-12.  

While there are many, many books about Helen Keller targeted at young readers, Deborah Hopkinson and Raul Colon have added to these riches with a lovely picture book biography that focuses on the intense relationship between Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Hopkins intersperses her narrative, which begins on the day when Annie Sullivan came into Helen Keller's life, with excerpts from Annie's own letters to her friend and former teacher, Sophia Hopkins.  We see Helen throwing a violent tantrum, her dog running away from her:  "Helen was like a small, wild bird, throwing herself against the bars of a dark and silent cage."  But Annie, who fought her own battle against blindness, understood that Helen needed discipline, and "prepared for battle."  She and Helen moved into a small house on the family's property, and Annie helped Helen accept rules and teaching.  But how could she teach her language?  Hopkinson explains the manual finger alphabet used by Annie, and provides drawings of the hand positions for each letter in the text as well as explaining how Annie tried to teach Helen the names of familiar objects.  When Helen finally grasps the concept of words at the water pump, as cool water splashed on her hand, the world of language quickly opened up to her.  Sullivan writes about Helen on April 5, 1887:  "A new light came into her face."

Hopkinson shows us Helen as a very bright child, giving many examples of how she put together words.  We even see Helen running and jumping with joy on their walks.  Annie also taught Helen to read using Braille and how to write using a special braille typewriter.  The book concludes with a letter written to her mother on a short trip with her father.

The book is beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Raul Colon, whose gentle, water-colored earth-toned illustrations capture the special relationship between these two remarkable women.  Back matter includes a few suggestions for further reading and a selection of websites to learn more about Annie and Helen.  Endpapers feature some of the many photographs of Helen and Annie.  The author also includes an author's note, which provides some basic biographical information on both women.

I would highly recommend this picture book to share in a classroom or at home; it only covers a brief period in the relationship between Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, but this book could easily be supplemented with other volumes for those young people who want to learn more about this famous teacher-pupil relationship.

Book Review: A Soldier's Secret: The Incredible True Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero, by Marissa Moss (Amulet Books, 2012)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Laurie Halse Anderson once wrote in her blog that she preferred to call her historical books "historical thrillers" rather than "historical fiction," given that many kids and teens associate historical fiction with BORING.  However, it's not every historical fiction title that can be justly called a "thriller."  With A Soldier's Secret, Marissa Moss definitely joins the club of historical thriller writers for teens.  Based on the true story of Civil War hero Sarah Edmonds, who enlisted in the Union Army as Frank Thompson, this is one story so full of incredible twists and turns that readers will be compelled have to finish it just to find out what happens.

In this novel, Moss returns to explore in greater depth Sarah Edmonds' life, which she portrayed in the lively 2011 picture book  biography Nurse, Soldier, Spy.  When we meet Sarah at the opening of this novel, it's the spring of 1861, and she has been living as Frank Thompson, a traveling book salesman, for more than three years.  Writing in the first person, Sarah fills the reader in on her back story growing up on a farm in New Brunswick, Canada, with a cruel and abusive father; when her father is about to force her into an unwanted marriage, Sarah cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, and runs away, ending up in the United States.

But when the war breaks out, the teenaged Sarah wants to be a part of history, and enlists in the Union Army as Private Frank Thompson, Army nurse.  An accomplished shot and rider, she is especially skilled at hiding her female parts when she "does her business," and no one questions her sex or her ability as a soldier.  Moss does an excellent job portraying the tedium and occasional terror of a soldier's existence through Sarah's eyes, as she wonders if she will be able to measure up in battle.  When the Union loses the first Battle of Bull Run, Sarah/Frank no longer needs to wonder; she's running around helping the doctors amputate limbs, writing letters to loved ones, and carrying out the last wishes of dying soldiers, as the reader gets a close-up view of the primitive nature of medical care in the 19th century.

But of course Sarah is a woman, and living in close proximity with so many eligible young men, the inevitable happens--she develops romantic feelings for a fellow soldier, fantasizing about him.  Eventually her feelings are so strong, she asks for a reassignment, next serving as a postmaster delivering letters to the troops.  Soon she is recruited as a Union spy, where her skill at disguises comes in very handy.  She even "disguises" herself as a woman for one of her assignments!

While there are hundreds of documented cases of women disguising themselves as men to fight in the Civil War, Sarah was the only woman to be recognized by Congress as an honorably discharged soldier, with rights to back pay and pension, and the only woman allowed to join the association for Civil War veterans.  At her death she was granted a military funeral and buried in a cemetery for Civil War veterans.

Moss' well-researched novel is based in part on Sarah Edmonds' own memoir, as well as many other sources on women in the Civil War and the Civil War in general.  Moss includes extensive back matter, including background on Sarah Edmonds, brief biographies of Union Army officers, a brief Civil War timeline, which includes annotations for battles in which Frank/Sarah participated, and selected bibliography.

This is a terrific novel for middle schoolers or high schoolers, male or female.  It offers great action, suspense, twists, and star-crossed romance that should intrigue even reluctant readers of historical fiction.  

Nonfiction Monday Book Review: The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, by Catherine Reef (Clarion Books, 2012)

Recommended for ages 9 to 14.

Release date:  October 23, 2012

The two most famous works by Charlotte and Emily Bronte--Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights--are classics of English literature, and have been frequently adapted for the movies and television as well.  But the lives of their authors, and of their sister, Anne, author of Agnes Grey, are perhaps not as well known, especially to young readers.  Author Catherine Reef, who published the very well-reviewed biography for young people Jane Austen:  A Life Revealed, in 2011, has turned her attention to the tragic lives of the Brontes in her newest work.

Reef's writing style is easy to read, with a narrative flair that makes the Brontes lives read much like a novel.  The biography opens when their father, Patrick, a country minister, was left to raise six small children when his wife died soon after the birth of their youngest, Anne.  Although he hoped to marry again, and proposed to several women, "none wanted a husband with a small income and a large family."  The children grew up in the wilds of Northern England, exploring the moors.  Because the children had only themselves for playmates, they developed an elaborate fantasy universe, complete with imaginary lands acted out by a set of toy soldiers.

The 19th century had few options for "respectable" women, and with no dowries for his daughters, Patrick Bronte sent his daughters to train to be teachers so they could provide for themselves after his death (ironically he outlived all six of his children).  When the two eldest die of tuberculosis, caught at the horrible school they attended, the surviving girls and their brother Branwell were educated at home, where they studied the classics as well as contemporary 19th century Romantic poets like Byron and Wordsworth.

Charlotte Bronte, 1854

All of the Bronte siblings were deeply creative, from Branwell, an artist who was ruined by drink and opium addiction, to the women, who were all talented writers.  However, women were not meant to be authors in the 19th century, and all were forced to publish their works under male pseudonyms.  Charlotte, under the name Currer Bell, was the first to be published, with Jane Eyre, in 1847.

In the course of this group biography, Reef provides summaries of the Brontes' major novels, including the lesser-known Agnes Grey as well as analysis of their novels' themes, historical importance, and current interpretations.  She also situates the novels in the context of women's history, stating that Charlotte Bronte "had written frankly about a women's feelings at a depth no other writer had yet explored."  Reef also writes especially movingly about the terrible year of 1849, in which Branwell, Emily, and Anne all die in eight months, leaving their sister Charlotte as the only survivor of the original six children.  She, too, was destined to meet an early and tragic death; not long after getting married, and finally knowing a brief period of happiness, she too, died, at the age of 38.

This well researched book is abundantly illustrated with photographs, portraits, and illustrations from the Brontes' novels.  Back matter includes a detailed bibliography, end notes, and index, and a list of the works of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, including references to published editions of their letters and their childhood writings.

The brief length (190 pages) and accessible style of this biography make it eminently suitable for school and public libraries, where it could be a useful resource for school reports.  Although the length means that readers don't get an in-depth portrait of any of the Brontes, the book is a well done introduction that may spark further reading among young readers.

Jane Eyre, 2006 BBC production

Readers, what is your favorite adaptation of a Bronte novel?  Leave a comment below.  Wuthering Heights alone has been adapted more than 30 times for film, TV, radio, and even opera.  My favorite adaptation is the Jane Eyre miniseries done for Masterpiece Theatre in 2006, starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens.  Much better than the 2011 movie, which had to leave so much out!  Check it out on DVD from Netflix or your local library.  And watch for a new version of Wuthering Heights to be released this fall, the first time Heathcliff is depicted by a black actor.  I can't wait to see that one!

Scene from Andrea Arnold's new adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Women's History Month Book Review: Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper, by Ann Malaspina (Albert Whitman, 2012)

Recommended for ages 5-10.

Young Alice Coachman, growing up in segregated Albany, Georgia, in the 1930's, just couldn't help herself.  She wanted to soar and touch the sky.

"Bare feet shouldn't fly./Long legs shouldn't spin./Braids shouldn't flap in the wind./'Sit on the porch and be a lady,' Papa scolded Alice," this book about the future Olympic athlete begins.  When she watched boys doing the high jump at a track meet, "Alice's feet tingled, wanting to try."  

We see Alice's dreams growing bigger as she gets older, until finally the high school coach needed a jumper for a track and field tournament in Alabama.  Her family was too poor to afford proper clothes for the competition, so her teachers pitched in and bought her shoes, shorts, and bright white socks.  For the first time, she competed with the best black athletes in the South.  In 1939, she won her first national medal, and soon she was asked to enroll at Tuskegee, where she'd be able to train with the best.  Alice worked hard to pay her school fees.  

Alice dreamed of the Olympics, but with the world consumed by war there were no games to enter.  Could she still compete in 1948?  Would she achieve her dream of a gold medal in the high jump--and  finally touch the sky?  

Written in a simple yet poetic style, this book captures the spirit of a true American heroine and a pioneer in sports, one who is not widely known today.  It's a real "girl power" story, as well as a tale about overcoming prejudice.  The stunning large format oil paintings, by illustrator Eric Velasquez, with their vibrant colors and sweeping compositions, capture the intensity of Alice's story, and especially of her jumping.  

An author's note shows photographs of the real Alice and her teammates and tells about what happened to Alice after her triumph at the Olympics.  A bibliography is also included.  

Alice Coachman

When it rains, it pours, and another picture book about this outstanding athlete will be released later this month.  Queen of the Track:  Olympic Champion Alice Coachman, is published by Boyds Mills press.  It's written by Heather Lang and illustrated by Floyd Cooper.  

GIVEAWAY:   Would you like to know more about Touch the Sky and win a copy of this book and other women's history picture books?  Check out Ann Malaspina's post at Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month and leave a comment to enter.  

Women's History Month Book Review: Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women's Suffrage, by Claire Rudolf Murphy (Peachtree, 2011)

Recommended for ages 6-12.  


In this historical picture book published in 2011, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of women's suffrage in California, author Claire Rudolf Murphy imagines the girlhood of Bessie Keith Pond, a real ten-year old girl who lived in Berkeley, California in 1896, the first year that a referendum on women's suffrage was on the California ballot.

All Bessie wants is to go hiking with her Papa and her brothers, but when they leave without her, she gets a chance to meet a famous guest at her home--the elderly Susan B. Anthony.  "Aunt Susan," as she's called by all the women in attendance at their tea, is in California for a women's suffrage rally in San Francisco.  Bessie's so inspired by Susan B. Anthony's speech that she recruits her friend Rita to come with her to work at suffrage headquarters, writing letters, licking envelopes, and painting posters.  Bessie soon learns that there's lots of things besides hiking that girls aren't allowed to do.  Although suffrage did not succeed in that referendum, the book ends on a hopeful note as Bessie's Mama learns to ride a bicycle--a symbol of freedom for women, and Papa decides to take Bessie hiking after all.

Illustrator Stacy Schuett's vibrant illustrations, rendered in gouache on watercolor paper, greatly enhance the narrative.  The book is supplemented with extensive back matter, including an author's note, further information on Bessie Keith Pond, the California suffrage campaign, Susan B. Anthony, and suffrage history.  A bibliography of further resources for young readers, including web resources, is also included.  The endpapers are illustrated with a variety of historical newspaper clippings and other historic materials which readers can peruse.

Marching with Aunt Susan is a perfect book to share during Women's History Month, and was honored by the Amelia Bloomer Project as a 2012 pick on their recommended feminist literature for children list.

To learn more about Marching with Aunt Susan, check out Claire Rudolf Murphy's post on Kidllit Celebrates Women's History Month. about "My Hero, Susan B. Anthony."

Giveaway:  You can also enter to win a copy of this book, and a prize pack of a number of other new titles for Women's History Month, by leaving a comment on any post on that site!  

Nonfiction Monday/Women's History Month Book Review: Zora! The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

Release date:  August 28, 2012


Recommended for ages 10-14.  


Although I haven't read any of Zora Neale Hurston's original work, I was fascinated by this upcoming biography for young people of the celebrated African-American novelist of the Harlem Renaissance.  Written by veteran nonfiction writer Dennis Fradin (he's published over 200 nonfiction books!) and his wife Judith, this book tells the story of an extraordinary woman who knew she was special from an early age.  She grew up in the unique all-black town of Eatonville, Florida, where she was unaware of racism and grew up so self-confident that she believed the moon followed her wherever she went.  From her childhood on, she loved to tell stories, and had a wonderful imagination.

While a student at Howard University, Zora was accepted into their literary group and had her first work published.  From the beginning, her work featured realistic dialogue, with the characters speaking in a dialect modelled on the real people she had grown up with.  When she was in her thirties, she moved to New York City to try to make it as an author, with $1.50 in her pocket, "no job, no friends, and a lot of hope."  There she befriended important writers such as Langston Hughes and became recognized for her work as an anthropologist as well as a writer.

The book points out that despite the recognition she received during her lifetime for her books and folklore work, Zora remained poor, and even had to take a variety of "day jobs," including work as a librarian, maid, personal assistant, waitress, college drama teacher and even as a Hollywood script consultant.  By the end of her life in 1960, all her works were out of print; in the 1970's, they were rediscovered by a new generation of African-American writers, including Alice Walker, and her books have now been republished.  In fact her most popular work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has sold more than 5 million copies, and is used in many high schools as part of the curriculum, as well as being made into a movie produced by Oprah Winfrey and starring Halle Berry.

This is a great biography to recommend for kids from 9-14 years old, and provides plenty of information for those school biography reports.  Her incredibly varied life, in which she achieved some fame, but little financial success, is a remarkable testament to her persistance and her spirit, and the book does an excellent job of portraying the different sides of her life, both the complicated personal (she was married and divorced three times) and professional aspects aspects of her story.

Zora Neale Hurston

The book is abundantly illustrated and also includes many quotes from Zora Neale Hurston's own writings, which give the text a real flavor of the author particularly for young people who may not read her books until high school.  Back matter includes an excerpt from one of her folktale collections, a timeline, source notes, and a bibliography.

For more on Nora Zeale Hurston's childhood in Eatonville, I recommend Zora and Me, a middle-grade mystery novel by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon (Candlewick, 2010), which imagines Zora's childhood in Eatonville from the point of view of her best friend, Carrie.

Nonfiction Monday Book Review: Jazz Age Josephine, by Jonah Winter (Simon & Schuster, 2011)

Recommended for ages 5-10.

Although it's early in the year, this new picture book by Jonah Winter about African-American singer and dancer Josephine Baker is already one of my favorites!  Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis in a poor family, living in a shack with rats and no heat and went on to become an iconic performer in Paris, one of the symbols of the Jazz Age.  At an early age, she learned to be a clown, dancing and making silly faces for money.  Her talents would provide her a ticket out of what Winter calls the "general misery of her childhood."  When she gets to New York, she winds up in the chorus line, where she performs in blackface.  Looking for better opportunities, she left for France, which became her adopted country and where she wasn't "scorned for the color of your skin."

What's so special about this picture book?  Several aspects make it a stand-out title.  First, the rhythm of the text, which just demands to be read aloud, put to music and to become a dance number.  Winter perfectly captures the vital rhythms of the dance age in the quirky rhythms of his poetry:

                   "Josephine, oh Josephine, you know you're in the big time now.
                    Josephine, oh Josephine,
                    grown up and in the big time now,
                    makin' people hoot and whistle
                    every night you take your bow."

And we can't forget the incredibly exuberant illustrations, done in gouache and ink, by two-time Caldecott honoree Marjorie Priceman, illustrator of Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and others.  You can see an extended excerpt of the artwork at Simon & Schuster's site.  The vibrant colors, movement and energy of the artwork remind me of Matisse and other painters from Paris in the 1920's, and are a perfect fit for Winter's rhythmic text.

While this picture book does not detail all the aspects of Baker's life, an author's note provides some further biographical details on her history.  This is a great title for both Black History Month and Women's History Month as well.

For more information on Josephine Baker, see her official website.  HBO did a biopic on Baker, The Josephine Baker Story, which is available on DVD, in 2001.  It stars Lynn Whitfield as Baker and Ruben Blades as her lover/manager.

If you want to check out Baker's infamous banana dance (alluded to in this book only through the illustrations), you can see a video of it on YouTube!

Book Review: In Trouble, by Ellen Levine (Carolrhoda Lab, 2011)

Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Abortion is a topic few YA authors dare to broach in their books, and this reality alone would be enough reason for me to applaud award-winning author Ellen Levine's 2011 young adult novel In Trouble.  But the book has plenty of merit as an unsentimental look at the hard choices (or lack thereof) teens confronted when they became pregnant in the 1950's.

The film noir style cover, portraying a lonely teenaged girl waiting late at night on a deserted street, sets the stage for this dark novel set in 1956 New York, when choices for young girls who got themselves "in trouble" were limited indeed.  The author tells the story of best friends Jamie and Elaine, who both find themselves with unwanted pregnancies while in high school.  However, the pregnancies are ultimately dealt with in very different ways, with a sensitive portrayal of how two different families dealt with this difficult situation.

Note:  some spoilers....

Elaine has a steady boyfriend already in college, and is sure that he will marry her when she tells him about the pregnancy.  Jamie's circumstances, on the other hand, are slowly unveiled by the author through a series of nightmares as the reader realizes that she was date-raped by a friend of her sophisticated Manhattan cousin.  Jamie's family is already under plenty of stress, since her dad has just been released from prison, having been convicted for refusing to answer questions during the McCarthy hearings.  But when they discover her circumstances, her family steps up, even helping her find a doctor who will do an abortion, despite abortions being illegal at the time.  Elaine, on the other hand, is sent to a home for unwed Catholic girls, where she is pressured to give up her baby for adoption despite her wishes.

In Trouble is based on dozens of interviews Levine conducted, and although the characters are fictional, each event in the book actually happened to someone.  In an author's note, Levine explains why she felt compelled to tell Elaine and Jamie's stories.  "If we don't know what has happened, we can't appreciate our choices today and what we might lose if laws are changed," she writes.  She explains that although we might think things are totally different today, with the availability of legal abortion, in 87% of U.S. counties you can't get a legal abortion, because there's no doctor who will do it.

I believe this is an important novel for young people, particularly girls to read; unfortunately, I'm not sure it will be widely purchased by school and public libraries.  Despite the fact that Levine has won many awards for her work, including a Caldecott Honor for Henry's Freedom Box, few of the library systems in my area (Southern California) have purchased it, although the novel came out in September.  Whether this is because of the controversial subject matter or limited budgets, I can't say, but I hope librarians will not be reluctant to add this to their collections because the book deals with abortion.  It is a gripping story that deserves to be on the shelves.