{"id":37149,"date":"2024-05-14T20:36:43","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T00:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37149"},"modified":"2024-05-14T20:36:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T00:36:43","slug":"review-of-the-only-woman-in-the-photo-by-kathleen-krull-illustrated-by-alexandra-bye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37149","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Only Woman in the Photo, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Alexandra Bye"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Only Woman in the Photo<\/p>\n

Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America<\/em><\/p>\n

by Kathleen Krull
\nillustrated by Alexandra Bye<\/p>\n

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020. 44 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written February 3, 2020, from a library book<\/p>\n

Did you know that a woman named Frances Perkins was instrumental in designing the New Deal? I didn\u2019t. She was also the first female cabinet member, and it was twenty more years before there was another. This picture book biography tells her story and how she was in the right place at the right time to make a big impact on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

The author tells us that young Frances was too shy to speak when she was a child, even to ask for a library book. But she was encouraged by her grandmother, and when she saw injustices around her, she joined the new field of social work and spoke up to help people.<\/p>\n

She spoke up for people in poverty and for worker safety. She witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire where 146 people died. That made her all the more determined to be a voice for women being exploited.<\/p>\n

Frances first worked in New York State, helping pass laws there to make workplaces safer. And that was where Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor, appointed Frances the state\u2019s industrial commissioner shortly before the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

So when FDR was elected president, he asked Frances to be his secretary of labor. I like the double-page spread about her decision:<\/p>\n

So Frances decided she\u2019d accept the job \u2013 if FDR allowed her to do it her way. She had been thinking up ideas for years. Now she wrote all her requests on slips of paper, a to-do list for helping the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

At their meeting, she held them up, and she watched the president\u2019s eyes to make sure he understood what she was planning. The scope of her list was breathtaking. It was nothing less than a restructuring of American society.<\/p>\n

Their talk lasted one hour \u2013 until he finally said, \u201cI\u2019ll back you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The next spread shows Frances cleaning out the desk in her new office in the Department of Labor \u2013 the drawers were crawling with cockroaches!<\/p>\n

The book goes on to explain \u2013 in picture book terms that are easy to understand \u2013 how hard Frances worked to help American workers. Her dream come true happened in 1935 when FDR signed the Social Security Act into law.<\/p>\n

One interesting thing about the book that I find rather refreshing: It doesn\u2019t talk about her marriage at all, except the note at the back where we learn that she was the sole support of her husband and daughter, both of whom had significant health problems. Since books about great men don\u2019t always mention their families, there\u2019s something I like about this picture book glossing over that. Though I did assume she was single and that\u2019s how she accomplished so much, so part of me which that had gotten some attention in the main part of the book. But it\u2019s a picture book biography of a woman who was far ahead of her time, and it does succeed in presenting the significant details of her life and making the reader want to know more.<\/p>\n

KathleenKrull.com<\/a>
\nAlexandraBye.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I\u2019m posting the oldest reviews I\u2019ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They\u2019re still good books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Only Woman in the Photo Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull illustrated by Alexandra Bye Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020. 44 pages. Starred Review Review written February 3, 2020, from a library book Did you know that a woman named Frances Perkins was instrumental in designing the New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,11,15,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-childrens-nonfiction-review","category-picture-book-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37149"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43770,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37149\/revisions\/43770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}