Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women

by Cheryl Harness, Cheryl Harness (Illustrator)

Overview

In a 1776 letter cautioning her husband to "remember the ladies," Abigail Adams made one of the earliest pleas for women's rights in America. How could she have known, in the years to follow, just how many strong and independent women would step forward to forge new paths in their fight for equality?

From Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman to the less well-known but equally important Belva Lockwood and Maya Ying Lin, Remember the Ladies spans the centuries to provide an engaging look at one hundred outstanding women who have helped shape our great nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064438698
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2003
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	271,084
Product dimensions:	9.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.15(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cheryl Harness lives in Independence, Missouri, with her Scottie, Maude, and two cats, MerrieEmma and Elizabeth. As an author and illustrator, she is known for her engaging approach to history, seen in such books as Three Young Pilgrims, Ghosts of the White House, and Remember the Ladies. Just for You to Know is her first novel.

Cheryl Harness lives in Independence, Missouri, with her Scottie, Maude, and two cats, MerrieEmma and Elizabeth. As an author and illustrator, she is known for her engaging approach to history, seen in such books as Three Young Pilgrims, Ghosts of the White House, and Remember the Ladies. Just for You to Know is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

And, reaching further back in history, Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women by Cheryl Harness, in her signature style, offers brief biographies within a larger history of women. She begins with Virginia Dare, "the first English child born in America" in 1587, proceeds to Pocahontas; includes Abigail Adams (whose quote inspired the volume's title), Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gloria Steinem, Barbara Jordan and Oprah Winfrey; and closes with director and costume designer Julie Taymor and Ruth J. Simmons, the African-American president of Smith College. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"In her signature style, the author/artist offers brief biographies within a larger history of women," wrote PW. Beginning with Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America in 1587, she proceeds to Pocahontas, Abigail Adams (whose quote inspires the title), and closes with Ruth J. Simmons, the African-American president of Smith College. Ages 8-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Imagine a room filled with women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Cady Stanton—all watching Abigail Adams use a computer. This carefully painted image in Cheryl Harness' book suggests just how far ahead of their times most women in the book really were, including Abigail Adams when she urged her husband John to "remember the ladies and be more generous to them than your ancestors." Harness includes a few sentences about each of the hundred women she has chosen, from Virginia Dare and Pocahontas all the way to Madeleine Albright, Toni Morrison and Oprah Winfrey. The book introduces young readers to many women they know and more they don't; if you question the selection or omission of particular women—and you will—at least Harness gets a good discussion going. She even invites readers at the end to come up with their own list—"When you get to 100, you'll have a pretty good idea about your America—and yourself." The watercolor illustrations are meticulous and colorful, with excellent detail, even in the crowd scenes. The layout, however, is crowded and confusing. The picture book-size volume includes a glossary and bibliography as well as a few historic sites and key organizations. 2001, HarperCollins, . Ages 8 up. Reviewer: Karen Leggett

Children's Literature

Gr 3-5-Borrowing her title from a statement made by Abigail Adams to her husband, Harness has carefully selected 100 women deserving of such remembrance. Twenty double-page spreads take readers through American history, from the "New World" through the "Turn of the Millennium." Each chapter offers a paragraph about the era covered and introduces a few of its important women. The watercolor paintings are colorful, inviting, and lighthearted. At the end of the book, the author muses about what Abigail Adams might think about the United States in the 21st century. In the illustration, Adams gazes into a computer monitor, surrounded by such "pals" as Eleanor Roosevelt, Emma Hart Willard, and Maya Angelou. A pictorial time line showing all of the women standing in chronological order sums up the book. Brief lists of historic sites and women's organizations are appended. This easy-to-browse title offers a broad yet cursory look at exemplary American women. As such, it is a lively overture to well-known (and should be well-known) historical figures. Students, however, will need to look elsewhere to find the real nitty-gritty on the individuals covered here. Sue Heinemann's The New York Public Library Amazing Women in American History (Wiley, 1998) is another accessible overview of the subject. While not a primary choice, Remember the Ladies should inspire classrooms focusing on women in American history.- Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

PLB: 0-688-17018-8 This compilation of paragraphs about one hundred of America's most famous women ranges from the dawn of the nation to the current millennium, highlighting the women trailblazers who have altered its history forever. Including the likes of Pocahontas and Abigail Adams, as well as Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Julie Taymor, there are few who have not been included in individual as well as collective biographies. Spies, poets, abolitionists, suffragists, politicians, scientists, painters, dancers, nurses, and doctors are all pictured within the context of their period of history. Each double-paged spread ("Turn of the Century,""The Great War,""The Great Depression," etc.) opens with a very brief overview and includes four to six women. By design, each of these figures is reduced to a few lines, highlighting not much more than a basic fact or two."They admired the flowers, and bones, and bright, bleak New Mexican landscapes painted by Georgia O'Keefe (1887—1986)." Harness's signature colors are attractive and her intent is certainly laudable, but it would be difficult to determine exactly the purpose of giving such short shrift to these important women. Useful, perhaps, as a starting point with an eye toward inspiration, a timeline, glossary, and lists of historic sites and women's organizations, as well as a bibliography and recommended reading list will help. (Nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews