Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Womens Rights Pioneer (Graphic Biographies)

Description

A biography telling the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a staunch supporter of women's rights including women's right to vote. Written in graphic-novel format.

Cynthia Martin has worked in comics and animation since 1983. Her credits include Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, in addition to work as a storyboard artist for Sony Children's Entertainment and the Krislin Company. Cynthia's recent projects include an extensive series of graphic novels for Capstone Press and two issues of Blue Beetle for DC Comics. She also illustrated the book Alley of Shadows, published by Stone Arch Books.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton proved that perseverance and patience accomplish great things. She spent most of her life working hard to change laws that many people told her would never be changed. Elizabeth believed that women should have the same rights as men. She lobbied endlessly for women's suffrage. In addition to raising a large family, she wrote speeches and books, traveled and gave speeches, and organized numerous petitions. This book is arranged as a graphic novel. The illustrations accurately portray life in the nineteenth century and the characters' dialog support and supplement the story. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an influential historical figure and the highlights of her inspirational story are presented here in an easy-to-read and entertaining format. The appendix provides tools for further information. This title is part of the "Graphic Library: Graphic Biographies" series.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database" Readable and inviting, these beginning biographies serve as good basic introductions to these individuals. A yellow background is used to set apart text that is a direct quotation from a primary source, allowing readers to distinguish it from the fictional dialogue and the narration. The "Internet Sites" section leads readers to FactHound.com where they can enter a book code to get a list of relevant sites. While not outstanding, the art is engaging and bright, and the format will appeal to graphic-novel fans as well as reluctant readers searching for a simple biography.-- "School Library Journal" REVIEW -- Women's rights advocate, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, is a staple in elementary education - a woman of strength and progressive thought whose death preceded her intended goal. Like most strong women, Stanton's views were considered edgy and controversial. Despite the poor treatment of women she continued her fight to end discrimination in the face of strong opposition by powerful men. This strong woman, who knew her place was not relegated only to the home and child rearing, was an instrumental and influential force in the women's suffrage movement. The story is short and offers a primer on the life and times of a woman who refused to live with oppression and discrimination, a small portrait of one woman's life. ART REVIEW -- One- and two-panel pages are combined with generous amounts of dialogue and narration bubbles to make for significant factual information, without the burden of dense paragraphs. The art is heavily inked and bright. AGE RECOMMENDATION -- Most students under age 8 would not be ready for the vocabulary, otherwise there is nothing preventing younger children from accessing the book. IN THE CLASSROOM -- This short biography gives the young reader a glimpse into the struggles and trials of one of America's most influential women and the forces of opposition that stood in her way. The lesson is a strong one for all children - boys, girls, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, those in poverty - one person can make a difference in a democracy and affect the lives of everyone in an oppressed group. It takes education, determination, perseverance, and alliances with like-minded spirits to achieve a goal greater than one's self. OTHER INFORMATION -- Capstone offers an additional facts list, a glossary, Internet sites, an index, and a bibliography. CHRIS' RECOMMENDATION - Recommended. Children need to learn about democracy and how to affect change appropriately and civilly. That begins with studying some of the great advocates of history, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton. http: //graphicclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/08/elizabeth-cady-stanton-womens-rights.html-- "The Graphic Classroom Blog" When she was only eleven years old Elizabeth Cady asked her father why it was that women were not allowed to vote. She felt that it was not fair that men alone could create the laws that affected all Americans. Later, as a young woman and after she had graduated from college, Elizabeth heard much talk about how wrong slavery was and how unjust it was that slaves had no rights. Elizabeth wondered that such people could talk about the slaves and yet not see that women too also lived without rights. Elizabeth then met and married the abolitionist lawyer, Henry Stanton and she went with him to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Once again Elizabeth was upset because all the men who spoke of the slavery issue refused to accept that women had no more rights than slaves did. So, back in America Elizabeth joined other women to talk about what could be done to make sure that women got more rights. The women determined that the time had come to bring about change and make some new rules and they set to arranging the first women's rights convention which took place in Seneca Falls, New York. This was just the beginning of a long battle which Elizabeth fought for the rest of her life. Unfortunately she did not live to see American women get the vote but her daughter and granddaughter did, and both were present when women were able to vote for the first time in 1920. This is an excellent introduction to the life and career of one of America's most well known women's rights workers. With a graphic rich format and an interesting narrative, this book will help girls realize that many women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton had to work for many years before rights that we take for granted today were given to us.-- "Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Review"