Seven Brave Women - Softcover

Hearne, Betsy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060799218 ISBN 13: 9780060799212

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2006

Synopsis

Take a journey through time as a young girl recounts the exploits of her female ancestors, seven brave women who left their imprints on the past and on her. Beginning with the great-great-great-grandmother who came to America on a wooden sailboat, these women were devout and determined and tireless and beloved.

About this title

About the Author

Betsy Hearne is the author of several acclaimed books for teens and for young readers, including The Canine Connection: Stories about Dogs and People; Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs; and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Seven Brave Women. She is a noted children's book reviewer and scholar who teaches folklore and storytelling at the University of Illinois. Betsy Hearne lives in Urbana, Illinois, but has spent every summer for more than twenty years in the village of Kilcrohane, County Cork, Ireland. These stories are partly drawn from that experience and partly made up out of very thin air.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4. History is often defined by its wars and the men who fought in them. Here, Hearne presents a family history that marks eras by the wars in which the women didn't fight. For instance, the first chapter begins, "My great-great-great-grandmother did great things. Elizabeth lived during the Revolutionary War, but she did not fight in it." The brief text goes on to describe her journey, in a wooden sailboat from Switzerland to America, with two young children and another on the way. Each double-page spread shows how these women's lives were distinctive in their own way. Some, like the great-grandmother who started a women's hospital in India, are remarkable by any standards. Others are remarkable in quieter ways, like the grandmother who lived in the same house her whole life, caring for many family members and all of the neighborhood animals. Hearne's smooth writing style is suited to the succinct narrative; her carefully selected details help bring the past to life. Andersen, in her picture-book debut, has created oil paintings full of color, light, and movement. A dove carrying a pink ribbon moves gracefully from page to page, tying the women's stories together visually and thematically. Feminism, pacifism, and genealogy are woven together to make an attractive book that may inspire young readers to delve into their own family histories. While this book is short on dramatic tension, it's strong in artistry and heart.?Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0060799218
• ISBN 13: 9780060799212
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Andersen Bethanne