THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 TAG: 9603120035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BARBARA BURNS, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Long : 162 lines
RAISING DAUGHTERS in today's world is a daunting responsibility. The ever-changing cultural and social attitudes toward women make parents ever mindful of the challenges they face.
Books about women who have made contributions to society, or who have triumphed over difficult times, can help both parents and daughters alike. They can guide girls in developing their own identities and in building self-reliance. They also can teach boys to appreciate the diversity and value of women's experiences, past and present.
In recognition of Women's History Month and these objectives, I recommend the following recently published children's and young adult books:
Emily Arnold McCully, the 1993 Caldecott medal winner, bases her latest book for ages 5 to 10 on the memoirs of a girl living in Lowell, Mass., in the 1830s. Ten-year-old Rebecca Putney is ``The Bobbin Girl'' (Dial, $14.99), the youngest worker in a cotton mill. When her older co-worker Judith leads the first strike in 1836, Rebecca must decide whether to ``turn out'' or resign from her job in support of the women protesting low wages. In the process, she learns courage and self-determination. McCully's tribute to the early factory girls is beautifully rendered in pastel watercolors.
David Diaz, a 1995 Caldecott medal winner for ``Smoky Night,'' has collaborated on an impressive new book with Kathleen Krull about athlete Wilma Rudolph, ``Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman'' (Harcourt Brace, $16), for ages 5-10. Only 4 pounds when she was born in the 1940s, Rudolph received plenty of love from her 22 brothers and sisters. When she contracted polio at age 5, Rudolph's doctors said she would never walk again, but she refused to believe them. Drawing strength from her family and her faith, Rudolph fought back to star on her high school basketball team and college track team and became, in 1960, the first woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. Diaz's acrylic illustrations framed by sepia-toned photographs combine well with Krull's dramatic text.
At the turn of the century, fashionable women paraded around with dead birds on their hats. Two very proper Boston ladies named Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall found this appalling and in protest founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society. This ``plucky'' pair is the subject of a delightful book for ages 5 to 10 by Kathryn Lasky, ``She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!'' (Hyperion, $14.95). Illustrator David Catrow, an ardent bird lover, has captured the spirit of this cause in watercolors and ink.
In 1881, an Iowa teenager risked her life to save people in a train wreck and to warn an oncoming train of danger up ahead. Kate Shelley's courage made her a legend, and Robert D. San Souci re-creates her story in a marvelous picture book, ``Kate Shelley: Bound for Legend'' (Dial, $14.99), for ages 5 to 11. Master realist painter Max Ginsburg makes his picture-book debut with breathtaking illustrations in this exciting page-turner.
Another account of a courageous girl is ``Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman'' (Dial, $16.99), by John Schroeder. Well-known abolitionist Harriet Tubman, critical to the underground slave movement, began her life as a slave on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1820s. Young Araminta Tubman, nicknamed Minty, was known as a ``problem slave'' and was often punished for being stubborn and headstrong. Banished from the house for her clumsiness and sent to the fields to work, Minty spent her young life dreaming of running away. Tubman finally escaped to Philadelphia when she was 24. Three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, illustrator Jerry Pinkney created the first Harriet Tubman commemorative stamp for the U.S. Postal Service in 1978. His vibrant watercolors combined with the insightful text bring this heroic child to life for readers ages 5 to 9.
Peter Burchard's ``Charlotte Forten: A Black Teacher in the Civil War'' (Crown, $16), for ages 9 to 12, tells the inspiring story of another abolitionist, a woman born free. Forten, educated in Massachusetts and raised in a well-to-do family, left the North during the Civil War to teach newly emancipated slaves in South Carolina. Burchard draws heavily from Forten's own diaries in this educational book.
Highly acclaimed biographer Jean Fritz profiles suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton in ``You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?'' (Putnam, $15.95). Elizabeth Cady knew when she was a child that ``girls didn't count for much.'' After she won a Latin prize, her father broke her heart when he told her, ``If only you'd been a boy.'' Lizzie didn't want to be a boy, but she did want girls to count as much as boys. Stanton didn't live to see women get the vote, but she devoted her whole life to women's suffrage and independence. Fritz captures the the fight and the life of this remarkable woman. Black and white illustrations by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan are a bonus.
Natalie S. Bober's ``Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution'' (Atheneum, $17), for ages 14 and up, is a truly exceptional biography. Bober spent five years reading more than 2,000 letters written by the former first lady. These letters, Bober writes ``allow us to witness, through her eyes, the birth of our nation, and to come to know the people who played a vital role in it.'' Readers of all ages will come to know and love this incredible woman, who was the wife of one president and the mother of another.
Polly Schoyer Brooks' previous biographies on Eleanor of Aquitaine and Joan of Arc were highly acclaimed. She now goes back further in time to depict an enduring heroine in ``Cleopatra: Goddess of Egypt, Enemy of Rome'' (HarperCollins, $15.95). Brooks' fascinating portrait of this young queen is for ages 11 to 15.
``Herstory: Women Who Changed The World'' (Viking, $19.95), edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn, journeys through history in 120 biographical sketches of women both familiar and little known. ``Herstory'' celebrates the accomplishments of women who were ``reformers, revolutionaries, saints and hell-raisers, scientists, sovereigns, and sisters.'' Gloria Steinem writes in the introduction: ``Reading one book that describes the world as if women mattered can change the rest of your life.'' This book could change the lives of many readers ages 10 and up.
``The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies: Their Lives, Times, and Issues'' (Henry Holt, $24.95) is the first comprehensive biography of first ladies for readers ages 10 and up. Edited by Edith P. Mayo, the curator of the popular First Ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian, this readable reference book highlights 43 women whose lives reflect the history of all American women. The volume includes discussions of political and social issues and the changing roles of first ladies. It is a valuable educational resource.
Several young adult novels will whet the appetites of avid readers. Nancy Garden's ``Dove and Sword'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17) is a riveting account of the medieval heroine, Joan of Arc. Told through the eyes of her friend Gabrielle, Jeanette d'Arc sets out to raise an army for the king of France, Charles the Dauphin. Gabrielle decides to follow her friend. She witnesses Jeanette's miraculous successes on the battlefield, the crowning of the French king, and her friend's death at the stake. How Gabrielle endures the losses of her friend and a young nobleman whom she loves makes a great read for ages 12 to 16.
The 1996 Newbery Award went to another novel set during the Middle Ages. ``The Midwife's Apprentice'' (Clarion, $10.95), by Karen Cushman, is about a homeless waif known only as Brat who has nowhere to go until she meets a sharp-tongued midwife named Jane. Brat becomes Jane's apprentice. As she helps Jane to deliver babies, Brat gains knowledge, confidence and the courage to want something from life.
Cushman's witty style can also be found in her 1995 Newbery Honor book, ``Catherine Called Birdy'' (Clarion, $13.95). Also set in medieval England, ``Birdy'' is the diary of a 14-year-old girl who would like to become a painter, a minstrel or a Crusader instead of being profitably married off by her father to the highest bidder. Cushman portrays her young female characters as strong, independent and resource-ful.
Ann Rinaldi, best known for her historical fiction, tells the story of Paul Revere's spunky daughter and the intriguing plots that led up to the first battles of the American Revolution in ``The Secret of Sarah Revere'' (Harcourt Brace, $11, $5 paperback), for ages 10 and up. The book enthralls with its detailed accounts of the Boston Tea Party, Revere's numerous rides and the secret meetings of famous American Patriots.
Other titles of note
``Black Women of the Old West'' (Atheneum, $18), by William Loren Katzm, ages 9 to 12;
``Black-Eyed Susan'' (Crown, $15), by Jennifer Armstrong, ages 7 to 9;
``Dandelions'' (Harcourt Brace, $15), by Eve Bunting, ages 4 to 9;
``Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales'' (Scholastic, $19.95), by Virginia Hamilton, ages 9 to 12;
``Keeping Secrets: The Girlhood Diaries of Seven Women Writers'' (Henry Holt, $15.95), by Mary E. Lyons, ages 12 to 16;
``Keeping the Good Light'' (Scholastic, $14.95), by Katherine Kirkpatrick, ages 10 to 14;
``Rosie The Riveter: Women Working on the Front in World War II'' (Crown, $16), by Penny Colman, ages 9 to 14;
``We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909'' (Scholastic, $15.95), by Joan Dash, ages 11 to 14. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
[color book jackets]
B\W photo
``The Midwife's Apprentice'' received the 1996 Newbery Award.
by CNB