Review by Booklist Review
For readers in search of envelope-pushing role models, Carrie Chapman Catt is hard to top, as Stirling demonstrates in this admiring tribute to a woman who led the final charge to the Nineteenth Amendment by questioning gender-based expectations and finding innovative (or, as the author puts it, "fun") ways to "attract mothers and shopgirls and teachers and ladies who lunch" to swell the ranks of the "suffs." The story of how the Nineteenth squeaked through its ratification by one vote in one state makes a suitably dramatic climax here, but rather than rest on her laurels, Catt then went on, as detailed in an afterword, to be a lifelong crusader for numerous social causes. Though the reluctance of the National Woman Suffrage Association to admit Black women to their ranks is frankly acknowledged in the narrative, Lugo several times depicts Catt, radiating smiling self confidence, in the midst of racially mixed groups of men and women. And if this profile skimps on specific biographical detail, there is at least a reference to her having "loved and lost two husbands," as well as a direct look at her enduring relationship with Mary Garrett Haywith (they are buried, in The Bronx, next to each other). The author's closing observation that voting rights are still being denied to many adds a cogent reminder that there remain questions to be asked and battles to be decided.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Dare to ask questions; dare to demand answers. As a child, Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) questioned why women couldn't vote. She became a tireless fighter in the battle for women's suffrage and marched, made speeches, and traveled around the United States to promote the cause. Eventually, she questioned the movement itself because Black and working-class White women were excluded. Carrie also asked why strategies to attract women to the movement couldn't be more creative. In New York, she and her romantic partner Mary Garrett Hay galvanized women into bold, exciting action. The First World War proved the turning point: The men of New York state--who voted in favor of women's suffrage in 1917, after acknowledging they'd filled male jobs when men went to war--and President Woodrow Wilson took note. In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting voting rights to all American women (though the book doesn't specifically note that many Black women were still deprived of that right for decades, backmatter states that the right to vote "was, and still is, often denied to many U.S. citizens"). This concise, insightful account allows readers to focus on the salient points of Catt's work and should inspire them to follow suit and support causes they are passionate about. Energetic, humorous visuals are enhanced by varied fonts and playful text placements. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A captivating, respectful portrait of a dynamic American woman who made history. (author's note, about Carrie Chapman Catt, photo) (Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
