ONE GIRL'S VOICE

In 1830s Massachusetts, girls’ and women’s voices were considered inconsequential.

Lucy Stone excelled in school, but when her father decided that she’d had enough education for a girl, she paid her own way through Ohio’s Oberlin Collegiate Institute, known for its integrated and co-ed student body. But even at progressive Oberlin, young women weren’t treated fairly. When Lucy found out that she was earning half the work study wages that the male students made, she wrote a letter to the administration and refused to work. The school changed its policy, inspiring a determined Lucy to keep speaking up. After graduation, Lucy was hired by the New England Anti-Slavery Society; she toured and spoke at rallies, sometimes facing angry protestors. Lucy’s unwavering voice contributed to many important changes, including the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and a law granting property rights to married women. Gibbon’s acrylic and colored pencil illustrations are kinetic and angular, depicting a spirited Lucy and her peers in energetic pops of color. Lucy’s direct quotations are peppered throughout the illustrations, potentially engaging older readers, though some advanced language may deter the younger, intended audience. All quotes are written in scrawled, difficult-to-decipher cursive hand-lettering. Overall, though, readers should come away inspired by her bold action—and stirred to make change themselves.

A passionate ode to a suffragist and abolitionist who should surely be a household name.