How Women Won the Vote
Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Their Big Idea
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
illustrated by Ziyue Chen
Harper, 2020. 80 pages.
Review written July 13, 2020, from a library book
This nonfiction story of women winning the vote is in large format like a picture book, but packed with facts, so it’s suitable for upper elementary school readers. The story is simplified, focusing on Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and beginning when they met in London in 1909. There’s a timeline in the back that highlights key events in the battle for women’s rights that happened before that last push.
There are pictures on every spread, but in many cases black-and-white photographs from the time are included. There’s a wonderful large photo filling two pages in the middle of the book and showing the women’s march in Washington, DC, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.
The parade covers a lot of space in the middle of the book, but we also get coverage of the arrests, imprisonments, hunger strikes, and force feedings the women went through.
The main text of the book ends with the first federal election where women voted, which happened on November 2, 1920. There is an Afterword telling about more work to be done, including a picture of the 2017 Women’s March.
The author and illustrator do an excellent job of boiling the story down to pertinent information. I’ve read several thicker books about women getting the vote, and I think this one presented the most information with the most clarity.
scbartoletti.com
ziyuechen.com
harpercollinschildrens.com
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Source: This review is based on a book from Fairfax County Public Library.
Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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