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YOU WANT WOMEN TO VOTE, LIZZIE STANTON?

Name: YOU WANT WOMEN TO VOTE, LIZZIE STANTON?
Author: Jean Fritz
ISBN: 0-399-22786-5

by Jean Fritz & illustrated by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 1995

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The early women's rights and suffrage advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the focus of a readable, accessible biography. She comes alive for middle graders in a narrative with almost novelistic pacing, a dose of humor, and an affectionate point of view. Fritz (Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers, 1994, etc.) vividly relates how Stanton, early on, felt the sting of injustice in being a girl, and that even her own father was sorry she was not a boy. As an adult, she was drawn into an iconoclastic circle of friends that included Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony. By making clear that many of the early supporters of rights for women were also strongly anti-slavery, Fritz leads readers almost effortlessly through such important events as the Seneca Falls (New York) Convention in 1848, the impact of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, and Reconstruction and the postCivil War 19th century. Lively, enjoyable fare from a reliable and expert storyteller. (Biography. 10- 14)

Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1995

ISBN: 0-399-22786-5

Page Count: 82

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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ALEXANDER HAMILTON
by Jean Fritz & illustrated by Ian Schoenherr

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WHO’S SAYING WHAT IN JAMESTOWN, THOMAS SAVAGE?
by Jean Fritz & illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE
by Jean Fritz & illustrated by Hudson Talbott

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THE BLETCHLEY RIDDLE

by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2024

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates.

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Siblings decode familial and wartime secrets in 1940 England.

Headstrong 14-year-old Lizzie Novis refuses to believe that her mother, a U.S. embassy clerk who was working in Poland, is dead. After fleeing from her grandmother—who’s attempting to bring her back to America—Lizzie locates her 19-year-old brother, Jakob, a Cambridge mathematician who’s stationed at the clandestine British intelligence site called Bletchley Park. Hiding from her grandmother’s estate steward, Lizzie becomes a messenger at Bletchley Park, ferrying letters across the grounds while Jakob attempts to both break the ciphers generated by the German Enigma machines and help his sister face the reality of their mother’s likely fate. With a suspicious MI5 agent inquiring about Mum and clues and codes piling up, the siblings, whose late father was “Polish Jewish British,” eventually decipher the truth. Shared narrative duties between the siblings effectively juxtapose the measured Jakob with the spirited Lizzie. Lizzie’s directness is repeatedly attributed to her being “half American,” which proves tiresome, but Jakob’s development from reserved to risk-tolerant provides welcome nuance. The authors introduce and carefully explain a variety of decoding methodologies, inspiring readers to attempt their own. A thoughtful and entertaining historical note identifies the key figures who appear in the book, such as Alan Turing, as well as the real-life bases for the fictional characters. Interspersed photos and images of ephemera help situate the narrative’s time period.

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. (Historical mystery. 10-14)