Jeri Ferris

I was inspired to pick up this book after reading "The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus" because it seemed to be a similar concept. The author Jerri Ferris is a practiced writer of biographies for children and considers this book, too, to be a "BI-OG-RA-PHY [noun: a written history of a person's life]" of Webster. The book not only chronicles Webster's life, starting with his humble farm town beginnings, but also capture his personality. In addition, it provides a general history of the show more formation of the United States and the shaping of American English.

The structure of the story is wonderfully circular, beginning and ending with a Noah Webster who "always knew he was right." It does lag a bit in the middle, where the author's use of the dictionary structure interrupts the flow of the story and begins to feel gimmicky: "it SOARED [verb: flew]." However, the author's and illustrator's sense of humor win out. The big-headed, watercolored sketches are entertaining and pair nicely with the author's one-liners.

Personally, as a lover of the history of language, I most appreciated the ending of the book, which examines the long-lasting effects of Webster's work, highlighting its omnipresence throughout American history. "When the pioneers went west in the early 1800s, Noah's blue-backed speller was in their covered wagons. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly freed slaves learned to read from Noah's speller." The creative historical timeline in the appendix also contributes to creating a sense of historical and cultural importance. The author emphasizes that Webster was a man who "loved his country passionately," and, whether we realize it or not, our continued use of the language today makes it clear the we love him back. show less

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

DEMANDING JUSTICE is a story of Mary Ann Shadd Cary in which Ms. Ferris introduces the reader to a true fighter of equal rights.

Mary Ann was born in 1823. Born as a free black person in Delaware, she was not exposed to the hardships that the blacks in the south were brought up in. But still, being black had its own problems, and Mary Ann fought for the rights for all.

A true visionary, Mary Ann became a school teacher and found herself in Canada, with show more many free black people. But her school was seriously underfunded and she fought constantly for the supplies she needed to teach the black people of her area.

Mary Ann soon found herself part of a free press paper, rivaling the famous Frederick Douglas. Mary Ann was able to reach many people and was asked to help find black volunteers for the union army as the Civil War began.

Told in a fast-moving manner, Ms. Ferris tells Mary Ann's story, giving readers a glimpse into the life of a truly inspiring woman. To impress all even more, Mary Ann became the first black woman (in her forties, no less!) to enter law school and earn her degree, finally, at age sixty.

If Mary Ann Shadd Cary can't inspire everyone, then no one can! show less

64 page biography of Noah Webster. Fairly uninteresting black and white illustrations. This is at least partly due to the subject matter, Noah Webster wrote spellers and dictionaries, he didn't have cool apparatus, like Benjamin Franklin.

The narrative tries to help the reader relate by describing, a bit too speculatively, the subjects feelings. It gives a reasonable outline of Noah Webster's life. He was rather young to be a "Founding Father", he was still in college during the War for show more American Independence and didn't drop out to be an officer with nearly the same enthusiasm as Alexander Hamilton.

Still, definitely worth the read if you know as little about Noah Webster as I do. show less

This book barely made it in under the wire, but I'm happy it did arrive in time for me to read it for the Cybils. The charm of this book is the novel way Ferris tells Webster's story, using big words that are written like dictionary entries. Absolutely Absolutely cap·ti·vating [kap-tuh-veyt] 1. to attract and hold the attention or interest of, as by beauty or excellence; enchant.