Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
If You lived when women won their rights
Nonfiction
For ages 7 to 10
Scholastic Inc., 2006 ISBN: 978-0439748698
Despite the fact that women did a great deal to help settle and build America, women and girls were given very few rights in the young country. Among other things they could not own property and they were expected to obey first their fathers and then their husbands. They could not vote, nor could they work except as teachers, maids, and mill workers. They had to be wives, mothers, and housekeepers and they were expected to be happy with what they had.
Then, in the 1800s things began to change. It was a time when new machines were being invented, when new ideas were circulating around the country, and when people were beginning to question the old ways. The abolitionist and temperance movements grew, and women took on big roles in both, speaking publicly and trying to raise awareness about the issues that they cared about.
During this time several women began to protest the treatment of women. These included Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott decided to work together to fight for women's rights. They set up a women's rights convention which was held at Seneca Falls in New York State in the summer of 1848. During the convention it was agreed that women had certain rights, just as men had. The fight had begun.
In this excellent If you... title Anne Kamma tells the story of the women' rights movement in a novel and thought provoking way. By posing a series of important questions, she shows her readers why the women's rights movement came into being and how the women who were a part of it fought for what they thought was right. Throughout the book there are mini biographies of some of the major players in the women's rights movement including Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony.
The well written text is broken up by illustrations and period photographs.
This is one in a series of If you.. titles, all of which explore pivotal moments in history.
