Founding Mothers

Finally, an account of the essential roles American Colonial women played as 13 British colonies became the United States of America. The author's unique political background and her political reporting expertise--her mother and father were members of Congress, and her sister was mayor of Princeton, New Jersey--serve her well. Combining new and invaluable historical information with wry asides (no one conveys more with a one-word commentary), Roberts makes historical figures become real people, sometimes flawed but immensely heroic. Abigail Adams stars, and Martha Washington shines as an admirable woman whose financial and emotional support of her husband just may have made all the difference. While the Colonial music at each CD's beginning becomes annoying, this audiobook delights as it increases our historical knowledge of this crucially important era. L.C. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

November 18, 2013
They wrote letters and literature, kept the home fires burning, ran the family farm, rallied support for the troops, and even fought alongside them. The women of the American Revolution get sprightly, affectionate tributes from Roberts, who covered this material for adults in 2004’s Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. Goode (the Louise the Big Cheese books) contributes quill-drawn portraits and historical vignettes, beautifully rendered in sepia tones and delicate watercolor washes reminiscent of images from journals and letters of the era. Together they celebrate the already beloved (Dolley Madison, Phillis Wheatley, and Deborah Sampson, who fought disguised as a man) and redeem a few figures from stereotype (who knew Martha Washington was such a dynamo?). Roberts’s disciplined concision—the major profiles run just five or six paragraphs, along with a smattering of single-paragraph nuggets—means that some stories feel rushed or missing a narrative arc. But readers will close the book confident that Abigail Adams herself would feel that these ladies are well remembered. Ages 7–12. Author’s agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

December 1, 2003
The women who helped start a Revolution and found a nation; with an eight-city author tour.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.