Heart on Fire

August 1, 2012

Gr 2-4-Concentrating on one incident from her subject's life, Malaspina describes how Anthony voted in the 1872 presidential election, then was arrested, tried, found guilty, and fined. She and her lawyer took the position that the 14th amendment, ratified in 1868, extended voting rights to women. The judge did not agree. The case, however, helped bring attention to the suffragist movement. Although women did not gain the right to vote until 1920, this book demonstrates how Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other early activists were tireless in their efforts. Period photographs of Anthony often present a stern demeanor, but James takes a somewhat different approach. His digital-media paintings depict an energetic, intense figure with pleasant features. Bold splashes of color add vividness to the pages. At one point, the author compares Anthony to Rosa Parks, another woman who challenged a law she viewed as unjust. Although not directly sourced, quotations appear to come from Anthony's writings and historical accounts of her trial. As another presidential election approaches, this title would be a good addition to voting or women's-history units.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
In spare and elegant free verse, Malaspina shares a vivid act of civil disobedience. Susan B. Anthony registered to vote in Rochester, N.Y., on November 1, 1872. She and 15 other women cast their ballots four days later, hoping that the new 14th Amendment, which stated that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States," would permit all women the right to vote. Instead, she was arrested and brought to trial, found guilty because women were not permitted the vote, and fined $100, which she never paid. James fills the pages with strongly modeled images and many close-ups of Susan's face and the faces of judge, jury, police officers and followers. He makes their faces mobile and intense, so children can feel the force of these ideas as well as hear the words. The refrain, set in larger and alternate type, is "Outrageous. / Unbelievable. / True," carrying the emotion and idea forward in an accessible and powerful way. The book opens with the text of the 14th and 19th Amendments and closes with facsimiles of a newspaper cartoon, a photograph and Susan B. Anthony's letter to her close friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton: "Well I have been & gone & done it!!--positively voted...." Inspiring fodder for an electoral--or any other--year. (afterword, bibliography) (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)

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September 15, 2012
Grades 2-4 A multitude of books have been written about Susan B. Anthony, and here, another picture book joins the ranks. The subtitle indicates the focus, which is on a single significant event in her life rather than a biographical overview. The sparse text, arranged much like prose poetry, begins by setting the time and place: Rochester, New York, November 1, 1872, days before Susan voted, and was arrested and put on trial. Her crime was voting when women were not allowed to do so. The narrative ends with the judge's infamously unfair decision of guilty, whereupon Susan was fined $100. Embellished dialogue and descriptions lend an immediacy to the story, although there are occasional missing pieces (for instance, no explanation for why the trial was held in Canandaigua, New York, and not Rochester, where Susan lived). James' softly drawn paintings focus on faces, which are well characterized and realistic, while other details are intentionally less defined. A strong, straightforward introduction to an activist kids that will return to as they grow older.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)