Suffragette: The Battle for Equality by David Roberts from Walker Books [Review & Giveaway USA/CANADA]

Walker Books
Hardcover $25.00
ISBN: 9781536208412 - Ages 7-12

My thoughts:  This is a great book to have in libraries - school, public, private. It is written in a tone that is easy to understand yet is not scaled down so much that the information is not of value to the older student.

While a picture book that engages the reader visually and helps to maintain that interest the illustrations generate, the information itself captivates the reader. It is not simply about the movement in the United Kingdom and United States to permit the vote to women nor is it a group of just mini-biographies about the involved individuals. It is a well-done mixture of historical information about women's voting (or voice) in politics from centuries prior to the actual Suffragette movement, leading up to the actual movement that resulted in women legally being able to vote in elections.

Example: On page 14 the author presents that in 1832 Women's Vote was Lost. Then further details the involvement of propertied women who were involved in the decision making and vote governing affairs of the people for centuries prior to 1832. I found that particularly interesting.

The harshness and forceful behavior on the part of those men and women who rallied for the cause of women's voting privilege as well as the forceful reaction of the police was not pretty then. This type of behavior has continued be the the plan and focus of groups seeking change in government or other movements. Rhetoric transformed into upheaval and violence seems to be the method of choice. I personally would hope that teachers and parents point out that this is not necessarily the choice method to utilize to achieve change.

Suffragette: The Battle for Equality is well done, covers a lot of very good material, is a good teaching source that is as good to look at as it is good to learn by.

About the book: A New York Times best-selling illustrator turns his talents to a lavish history of the women’s suffrage movement in the U.K. and the U.S. just in time for the hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Imprisonment, hunger strikes, suffrajitsu — the decades-long fight for women’s right to vote was at times a ferocious one. Acclaimed artist David Roberts gives these important, socially transformative times their due in a colorfully illustrated history that includes many of the important faces of the movement in portraiture and scenes that both dignify and enliven. He has created a timely and thoroughly engaging resource in his first turn as nonfiction author-illustrator. Suffragette: The Battle for Equality follows the trajectory of the movement in the U.K. and visits some key figures and moments in the United States as it presents the stories of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, and many more heroic women and men — making it a perfect gift for young readers of today. Dr. Crystal Feimster of Yale’s Department of African American Studies contributes a foreword that speaks to the relationship and differences between the British and American suffrage efforts.

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DISCLOSURE: I was provided a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given. Prize is provided and sent directly to the winners by publisher or publicist.