Susan B. Anthony

If you have children in public school, you probably have noticed that they have expanded the history curriculum to be more inclusive of people who aren't male and white. As a result there are quite a few books in recent years that have been published on historic figures such as Booker T. Washington, Geoorg Carver, and Ms. Anthony. At our home, we've been reading off and on about these important individuals, but lately my daughter has become curious about Susan B. and we've looked at several books about her. I hope to review more of these books so you can compare them and figure out what might fit best into your own home curriculum, but here at least are my thoughts on Susan B. Anthony by Martha E.H. Rustad. Rustad's book is brief and so her focus is simple. She provides what is essentially an outline of Anthony's life, and the briefest of descriptions of the issues that concerned her. The book starts off, for example, with the year and place Susan was born (1820) and then a statement that she learned to read and write when she was 3 years old. It then jumps forwards in time to say her family moved to New York in 1826, and that a short time later she went to boarding school. The next leap takes us to her adult life when she became a teacher. And it is from there that the narrative branches out to talk about matters that were important to Susan. The book does not go into depth about slavery and alcohol, both of which she thought should be illegal, but rather discusses that at the meeting halls men would not let her speak because she was a woman. The author writes, "In the 1800s, many women were not allowed to own property. They did not earn as much money as men did. Women also were not allowed to vote. Susan fought for women's rights." And this sentence should give you an idea of what you might find on any particular page. Wrap-Up::: This small book is a nice introduction to Susan B. Anthony. Written at the Second Grade level (AR =2.4**) it has large print, and photos or drawings on every other page. The photos show everything from the homes in which Susan lived (which I'm afraid no child is really going to be interested in) to pictures of slaves working the fields, as well as photos of the stern Ms. Anthony at various stages of her life (of much greater interest). Drawings include the meeting halls were issues used to be debated before television and radio, as well as women strolling down the street protesting that they can't vote. The timeline that flows from the bottom of one page to the next is especially useful in helping children to conceptualize the flow of history (the passage of years) At the end of the book there are "Words to Know", suggested readings, and a list of internet sites. Words include: alcohol, amendment, constitution, earn, property, slave, suffrage, and vote. All in all, I think this is a nice little book that you can zip through in a few minutes and which will serve as a good introduction to a variety of topics, such

I bought this book for my classroom library. Students are able to read this book because of the easy readability. I also use this book in a reading center to teach compare/contrast. You could compare and contrast the lives of Susan B. Anthony and Amelia Earhart.