Marching With Aunt Susan

Marching With Aunt Susan; Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women's Suffrage
by Claire Rudolf Murphy, illustrated by Stacey Schuett

no awards yet, but I'm predicting there will be some! It was published in 2011, so we'll see what happens.

I really enjoyed this picture book. It is written from the point of view of a girl named Bessie who gets to meet "Aunt Susan" Susan B. Anthony, hear her speak and get involved in the Suffrage movement. Bessie was a real little girl who lived in Berkley California in 1896. In fact the story is based on fact very closely. But still a good STORY (in other words my 7 year enjoyed the book too!)

The author had the opportunity to read real letters exchanged between Bessie's Aunt Mary and Susan B. Anthony and she says "I wanted to find a real girl to write about and eventually I found the Keith-McHenry-Pond papers at The Bancroft Library at the  University of California, Berkley. Inside boxes and cartons were Bessie's journals, newspaper articles about her family's hiking, and the suffrage collection of her aunt, Mary McHenry Keith. My hand shook as I read letters from my hero Susan B. Anthony to Aunt Mary."

There is a nice collection of supporting material and links to further resources at the end of the book including a photo of the real Bessie.

Love, Louise