With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote »

The photo-illustrated history With Courage and Cloth tells the story of how women fought for and won the right to vote in the United States. Over the course of seven compelling, fact-filled chapters-"Parade," "Rights," "Momentum," "Protest," "Prison," "Action," and "Victory"-the story of a brave struggle unfolds, showing how women used the democratic system that excluded them in order to become full voting citizens of their nation.

The book starts with basic history on the struggle for women's rights, other groups' battles for the vote, and background on the 19th-century women's suffrage movement before focusing on the ultimately successful 20th century efforts to enfranchise women. It details and illustrates the political lobbying and public protests organized by women's groups led by suffragists like Alice Paul and the backlash against these efforts, including intimidation, imprisonment, hunger strikes, and forced feeding of prisoners. The book explains how support for women's suffrage grew, leading to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919, and the battle to get it ratified by three-fourths of the nation's 48 states. An afterword includes a discussion of the evolution of voting rights and women's rights since 1920, including the efforts to pass an equal rights amendment. This political struggle for equal rights under the law makes for an exciting story that demonstrates democracy in action and how people have worked to improve the system.

The story of how half the U.S. population earned voting rights is an important chapter in American history, and it is told here in a comprehensive and straightforward way that has not been done before for children. The great suffrageleaders don't tend to be household names, but their deeds have impact in every home and in every community on Election Day and in the political process throughout the year. The political influence of women can be seen in concrete ways even today: For example, if women hadn't won the vote, Bob Dole would have been elected President of the United States in 1996. Carrying cloth banners and with determined spirits, American women marched, picketed, and paraded tirelessly until they were heard and their rights were inscribed into the Constitution of the United States.

Author Ann Bausum illustrates her gripping text with more than 50 period photographs and illustrations combed from archives at the Library of Congress, the National Women's Party, and more. These photographic treasures, some never before published, bring the suffragists and their crusade to life.

Mindy Hardwick - Children's Literature

We all know about Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone, pioneers in women's suffrage. However, very little is included in textbooks or curriculum materials about the period from 1913 to 1920. This is a period when Alice Paul was an influential activist, and it includes some of the most violent incidents in the suffrage struggle. This beautifully researched and written book fills in some of the gaps during this important period. The book starts with a recap of the Suffrage Movement from 1848 to 1906, and then expands on the period when women marched on Washington, went to prison and were tortured in prison. The book is a perfect supplemental research text. Every school library that includes women's history as a part of the school curriculum should carry at least one of these texts. The text adds an important voice to our knowledge about the United States Government and history. 2004, National Geographic, Ages 13 to 18.