The Bravest Woman in America

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Ana's Nonfiction Blog

Tricycle Press (Random House)

(pub. 7.12.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Marissa Moss
and illustrator:  Andrea U'Ren

C haracter: Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper

 

O verview from the publisher: 

        "Ida Lewis loved everything about the sea, so when her father became the official keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island, she couldn’t imagine anything better. Throughout the years, Ida shadowed her father as he tended the lighthouse, listening raptly to his stories about treacherous storms, drowning sailors, and daring rescues. Under her father’s watchful eye, she learned to polish the lighthouse lens so the light would shine bright.  
        She learned to watch the sea for any sign of trouble. And, most importantly, she learned to row.
        Ida felt ready for anything—and she was."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "The boys' faces were white with cold, their lips blue. One passed out, lying limp on the bottom of the boat.
        Ida didn't think. She rowed - harder and faster than she ever had. The waves crashed over her head, tilting the boat along a wall of green and gray. Ida kept on rowing, frantic to get them all to safety.
        'I can do it,' she told herself.  ' I have to do it.'"

and something more:  Marissa Moss' Author's Note in this picture book biography, The Bravest Woman in America, states that Ida Lewis "went on to rescue many more people after that first time when she was sixteen.  She was sixty-three when she made her last rescue.  Officially, she saved eighteen lives, but the real number may be as high as twenty-five."  And, I chuckled at Ida's quote: "Anyone who thinks it is un-feminine to save lives has the brains of a donkey."  Gotta love her spunk!

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Nurse, Solider, Spy

The Story of Sarah Edmonds - A Civil War Hero

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday
hosted today by School Library Journal's
Practically Paradise
Abrams Books for Young Readers

(pub. 3.1.2011)
48 pages
 
A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: MARISSA MOSS

              and Illustrator: JOHN HENDRIX

C haracter: Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War hero

O verview from book flap: 
     "When Frank Thompson sees a poster requesting recruits for the new Union army, he is ready and willing to enlist.  Except Frank isn't his real name. In fact, Frank isn't a man - he is really Sarah Emma Edmonds.

     At only nineteen years old, Sarah had already been dressing as a man for three years and living on the run in order to escape an arranged marriage.  She had tasted freedom, and there was no going back.

     Eager to fight for the North during the Civil War, Sarah ... excels as a soldier [and as a nurse].  Because of her heroism, she is asked to become a spy...

     This incredible, true story of a brave young woman who makes an unlikely choice to fight for her country is one that should not be lost to history."

T antalizing taste: 
      "Freedom, she knew, wasn't something to take for granted.  It was something to fight for, to cherish.

     And so long as her heart was beating strong, that's just what she would do."

and something more:   The picture book biography, Nurse, Soldier, Spy, is a perfect book to wrap up this month's celebration of Women's History Month.  As Marissa Moss wrote in the Author's Note, Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye "became the first and only woman to be recognized as a veteran of the Civil War with an honorable discharge and to receive a pension and back pay for her service.  She was also the only woman invited to join the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the association for Civil War veterans of the Union army... [She] was the only woman to be buried in a military cemetery, in a plot reserved for Civil War veterans." 

     As John Hendrix' commented in his Artist's Note, he needed to draw Sarah "to look different from the other characters in the book, but still appear strong and confident in her abilities."  Yes!  She certainly was a strong and confident woman who not only performed the roles of nurse, solider and spy during the Civil War, but also, after the war, worked with her husband to improve the lives of others in a number of good causes.

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