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 pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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