Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation - Hardcover

Roberts, Cokie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060780053 ISBN 13: 9780060780050

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2016

Synopsis

“This collection succeeds in emphasizing that many unsung women left their mark well before the suffrage movement.” —Publishers Weekly

Fans of #1 New York Times bestselling author Cokie Roberts, also a celebrated journalist for ABC and NPR, will love this stunning nonfiction picture book, as will parents and educators looking for a more in-depth book beyond the Rosie Revere and Rad Women series.

Highlighting the female explorers, educators, writers, and political and social activists that shaped our nation’s early history, this is the stunning follow-up to the acclaimed picture book edition of Founding Mothers.

Beautifully illustrated by Caldecott Honor–winning artist Diane Goode, Ladies of Liberty pays homage to a diverse selection of ten remarkable women who have shaped the United States, covering the period 1776 to 1824.

Drawing on personal correspondence and private journals, Cokie Roberts brings to life the extraordinary accomplishments of these women who created the framework for our current society, a generation of reformers and visionaries.

Roberts features a cast of courageous heroines that includes African American poet Lucy Terry Prince, Native American explorer Sacagawea, first lady Louisa Catherine Adams, Judith Sargent Murray, Isabella Graham, Martha Jefferson Randolph, Elizabeth Bayley Seton, Louise D’Avezac Livingston, Rebecca Gratz, and Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.

This compelling book offers a rich timeline, biographies, and an author note, bringing these dynamic ladies to life.

About this title

About the Author

Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. She has won countless awards and in 2008 was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters, Founding Mothers, Ladies of Liberty, and, with her husband, the journalist Steven V. Roberts, From This Day Forward and Our Haggadah.

Diane Goode is the illustrator of more than fifty beloved and critically acclaimed picture books, including the Caldecott Honor Book When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant. Inspired by the handwritten letters of the Founding Mothers, she begins with their quill and sepia handwriting and spins out the line to re-create their images and the remarkable events of their lives for a new generation of young readers.

From School Library Journal

Gr 2–5—Using a format similar to Roberts's previous title Founding Mothers, this overview highlights several little-known educators, writers, and reformers who made significant contributions to U.S. history. Some of the women were motivated by religious devotion, while others were influenced by powerful husbands or fathers; still others found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and rose to the occasion. With the exceptions of Sacagawea and Lucy Prince, all of the women featured are white. Goode's illustrations—rendered using quills, sepia-toned brown ink, and watercolors—reflect the historical time period with a fresh energy. Two-page portraits of individuals are interspersed with summary sections comprised of shorter entries. An author's introduction refers to the primary sources used, such as letters and diaries. Readers may pause at a poem that, though indicative of the time period, refers to Native Americans as "awful creatures" and the illustration of two-year-old Charles Adams (son of Louisa and John Quincy Adams) dressed as a "Native American chief" in a feathered headdress for a "fancy ball" when the family was living in Russia. VERDICT For libraries where Roberts's other books have been popular, this follow-up offers comparable fare.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0060780053
• ISBN 13: 9780060780050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Goode Diane