A TAKE-CHARGE GIRL BLAZES A TRAIL TO CONGRESS

A picture-book biography of the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) may not be a household name today, but Woelfle and Gibbon’s book seeks to change that. Although some may pause at the use of the word girl in the title to refer to the first U.S. congresswoman, Woelfle wisely begins the narrative in Rankin’s youth, then leads into her suffragist activism and her political career. The text as a whole grounds Rankin’s ambitions in her determination to advocate for children, and such framing will likely make the book more accessible to young readers, as will the energetic illustrations. Gibbon’s acrylic ink and colored pencil pictures have a homespun, folk-art quality to them, offering readers depictions of Rankin’s early life in Montana (the state she eventually represented), her stints in San Francisco and New York, and, eventually, her time in Washington, D.C. Robust backmatter with an author’s note, timeline, and bibliography fleshes out the necessarily spare account of Rankin’s life, particularly in its documentation of her pacifist voting record in Congress and her peace activism during the decades after her final term. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A yes vote for this title’s inclusion on children’s bookshelves.