Kathryn Lasky

Opening in 1761, as a young girl sits miserably huddled in the hold of a slave ship bound for the Americas, A Voice of Her Own is a picture-book examination of the life of Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American poet ever to be published. Purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family of Boston, and named 'Phillis' after the ship which brought her from Africa, she so impressed her owners with her intelligence that they took the unheard of step of educating her. While still a slave in the show more Wheatley household, she became a published poet, a guest in many of Boston's finest homes, where she was asked to recite, and traveled to England. She dedicated poems to well-known clergymen, to George Washington, and wrote sympathetically of the colonists' determination to free themselves from British rule. Eventually, she herself was freed, although (as is made plain in the afterword) her story did not end happily...

I found this an immensely engaging biography of a fascinating historical and literary figure, and was impressed with the way that Lasky's well-written narrative captured the desolation of Wheatley's early kidnapping and enslavement, and the subsequent story of her education, and development as a writer. How strange and disconcerting it must have been for Wheatley, to take tea in the drawing room of the Finch family, when the master of the house owned the very ship, the 'Phillis,' that brought her to the Americas! How odd that she wrote so sympathetically of the patriots' cause, and believe in their right to freedom, when no American publisher would print her work, because she was African! So many things struck me, in my reading: how unusual Wheatley's story was, how few women of that day were educated to her level, and how few slaves.

All in all, this is an effective biography, in that it made me want to know more! I want to know more about Wheatley's life, and I want to read her poetry - in the eighteenth-century original, of course! I may have to look her up on archive.org... show less

The Royal Diaries are a spin off from The Dear America series....both offer a wonderful way to teach children history. I thoroughly enjoy reading them myself.... and as a homeschooling Mom, I consider them a very valuable educational resource.

This book is one of my least favored in the series. The customs, lifestyle, titles, and societal expectations are very different in India than in America.....baring in mind that this series is intended for youths......I don't feel that there was enough show more detail given. It's only because I'm an adult with prior knowledge of Indian culture that I was able to easily follow this book. Unless a child is of Indian ethnicity and/or has some prior knowledge of the culture, I feel this could be a bit confusing.

The one real gripe I have is the derogatory racial and cultural slants I was rather surprised and disappointed to find.....I've read several of the books in this series and have never encountered this before. The writer has Jahanara think very negatively about the English in general, and references their supposedly unflattering pink skin, unbathed bodies, and flea infested wigs.....at one point she expressed how thankful she was not to have the coloring of Queen Elizabeth I.....who was actually considered quite beautiful.

After reading this I researched Jahanara and found no indications that she harbored any ill feeling towards the English....in fact, she had a long standing trade relationship with them, and was said to have admired Queen Elizabeth I......therefore, I can only conclude these things were added due to the personal feelings of the writer or to push some narrative.....I don't find this acceptable in children's literature.

This book was interesting and well written, just as the others in the series....unfortunately, due to the reasons I've mentioned, I can't rate this one highly and I wouldn't recommend it for children. show less

A few weeks ago, we studied Mary, Queen of Scots for history, and several days later I happened upon a My Story book about her on the section of shelves that holds books we haven’t yet read and added to the library. So, I read it aloud. This book, covering one year of the queen’s life when she was 11 years old, brings her alive in a way that the biography we read did not. We all agreed, by the end of the book, that we don’t want to be royalty!
One section of the book that my daughters show more (ages 11 and 6) asked a lot of questions about was where someone tried to molest one of Mary’s friends. I used that story to try to teach them what to do if someone tells them to keep an interaction a secret. Mary’s diary shows the good results when such behavior is exposed rather than hidden. show less

This wonderful picture-book follows the true story of cousins Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall, two very proper Boston ladies who, in the early years of the twentieth century, formed the Massachusetts Audubon Society, in response to the appalling hat fashions of the day. As the title, She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!, suggests, these fashions involved the widespread slaughter of many different species of bird, so that their feathers and bodies could be used as decorations. Determined to show more put a stop to this "revolting" practice, Harriet and Minna launched a campaign that would have far-reaching consequences, both for the environmental and woman suffrage movements...

I really liked Lasky's narrative, which emphasized the strong feelings and high principles of both her heroines, while also subtly depicting the social constraints of their world: "ladies" didn't speak with their mouth full, didn't investigate without a male companion, and so on. I also liked that she highlighted the ties between different kinds of organizing, from bird protection to women's rights. The watercolor and ink illustrations by David Catrow - She's Wearing a Dead Bird on her Head! was chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book for 1995 - accentuated the humor and emotion of the story.

In her afterword, Lasky claims that the campaign started by Hemenway and Hall was instrumental in leading to a ban on the killing of birds by the hat industry, and that their organization, although not the first Audubon Society, was the first long-lasting one. None of that history is mentioned in the main Wikipedia entry on The National Audubon Society, making me doubly glad that this book is available to young readers. I think I will have to track down Jennifer Price's essay, When Women Were Women, Men Were Men, and Birds Were Hats, from Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America, for more information... show less