Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution

"Hello? How about the women?"(p.6).

This young reader book is profound in its message toward youth as well as adults. From the outset, the book drives the point that women are not mentioned in the history of the making of the United States, not because they did not act, but because they simply were not written about. Black, Native American, and White, women rode farther than Paul Revere; were the impetus for the strength of the boycott against English tea and merchandise (not afraid to tar and feather traitors to the cause); wrote pamphlets, newspapers, and inspirational lyrics; and followed men to the front lines and dressed in men's clothing to take up arms fighting bravely, suffering injury, freeing prisoners of war, nursing the show more wounded, burying the dead, and carrying secrets. And, their service was once acknowledged! George Washington recognized African slave Phillis Wheatley for her famous poems of the Revolution, and called the women who cooked and cleaned for soldiers "Women of the Army." Women earned military pay and military pensions, and were renowned for fighting off enemy troops. Yet, only the great men of the Revolution earned their names in print. Anderson knows the way to rectify this is to start digging through our own family histories for the truth. The dedication of the book leads the charge. It reads, "Dedicated to my Revolutionary grandmothers," listing the author's own 22 mothers of the Revolution. show less

Most histories of the American Revolution focus on the soldiers and politicians. This book tells the stories of women who contributed to the American Revolution in myriad ways, from cooking, sewing, and nursing, to spying, acting as couriers, and fighting on the battlefield. The women’s stories are engaging. However, the book tries to pack too much content into a limited space. The book design is not conducive to the ebook format that I read. It was hard to enlarge the book enough to read the text even on a computer screen, let alone on a phone app, and I completely gave up on the timeline across the bottom edge of the page. The font crowds the letters together enough that I think the print edition would even pose a challenge for many show more readers. show less

This book tells one of those “unseen” sides of history – specifically, the role of girls and women in the American Revolution. The book gives examples of many women who served as spies, soldiers, nurses, and so on. Also included in the book are a timeline, a bibliography (including websites), and an index. I liked the idea of this book but not so much the execution. The timeline runs along the bottom of each page, which I found distracting from the main text. The illustrations were just a little too goofy for me, although I’ll admit they probably appeal more to children because of their silliness (and children are, after all, the actual target audience of this book). I also didn’t really like the use of the word “dames” in show more this book. In the title was okay, but I didn’t appreciate the repeated use of the word as it is not generally considered the most respectful way to refer to women. I don’t mind seeing “dame” in a hard-boiled detective story (instead you rather expect it as part of the genre) but in a women’s rights-type book, it seemed out of place. Overall, I was hoping for better, although I am glad that children are being exposed to history that isn’t just white male history. show less

Anderson, L.H. (2008). Independent Dames. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

0689858086

Appetizer: As a class prepares to put on a play about the American Revolution they showcase some of the women who helped create the U.S.A. This information picturebook very intentionally pushes the ladies of the revolution (or the daughter of liberty) into the spot light, giving voice to historic figures that are usually left in the background or worse, not included at all.

The stories of female revolutionaries will educate, inspire and amuse many readers. Anderson uses succinct language to share the women's stories. She avoids being metaphorical (which is one of my favorite parts of her YA novels, but I was thankful to see it excluded show more from this picturebook). Anderson makes sure to include an African American voice, that of Phillis Wheatley. Older students could go from this picturebook to reading her poetry as fast as a teacher can hand them a second book. The stories of Sally St. Clair a Creole girl, and Iyonajanegen a Oneida woman are also included.

While I love the message of this book, I really wasn't rocking the illustrations. Even more so than with the color, all of the watercolor illustrations feature a lot of pen lines in the drawings, criss-crossing and adding depth and dimension. But really, all those lines just made the pictures too busy and a bit overwhelming to look at.

Also, since there's the general narration text on each page, side boxes of various women's biographies or stories and dialogue boxes, it's hard to know what the reader should read when.

Along the bottom of each page, runs a who's who and timeline to help share the history of the time period. It include major events like the dates of various wars, proclamations, etc. And while this is a nice touch, I know my ten-year-old-self. Ten-year-old-me would never have bothered to read all those details. I think some of my close friends would have. But then, that's why ten-year-old me always secretly hated all of my friends. Nerds.

So, in conclusion, yes to the concept of this book. No, no, no to how busy each page of the book was.

Dinner Conversation:

"Look, another school play about the heroes of the American Revolution. How sweet."

"Of course, you're missing part of the story.
In fact, you're missing about half of it."

"Hello? How about the women?
What about the girls?
They wanted a free country too."

"Deborah Sampson cut her hair, dressed as a man, and lived as a male soldier for eighteen months. She was wounded twice in battle--once by a saber blow to her head and later by a gunshot in the leg. Deborah was discharged when a doctor discovered she was a woman, but she received a military pension."

To Go with the Meal:

This picturebook would be a wonderful supplement to a standard textbook. Students can pick among the women described to research further and they can act out scenes from the story, or write letters in the voices of the women, etc.

Students could add to some of the brief stories of the various women throughout the book. They could imagine dialogue and scenes to help the stories come alive.

Tasty Rating: !!! show less

This book tells the stories of women who contributed to the American Revolution in variety of ways. It focuses on the women of the Revolution, their struggles and sacrifices, and the significant (often overlooked) roles they played throughout the War. The women’s stories are engaging, but there is a lot happening on each page, making it hard to focus on what it most important. The book includes text, timelines and graphic novel style writing all on one page.

This was a useful companion to a unit on the American Revolution. The story of women's involvement in a male-dominated history course is needed. However, presenting women as a side-text only risks giving the message they they are only a side-note to the main course of history. The book is colorful, fun, and attractively laid out to draw in bored students of history, my only complaint is that it is sometimes too busy and tries to cram too much information on a page.

It was great to find a book about the Revolutionary War that incorporated little known facts about women and how they helped the war efforts. This book was not a serious-toned war book but had a sense of humor to it. It has a time line running through the bottom of the book which I thought was a nice touch. The back of the book had more biographical information and facts about the Revolution. I think it would be an empowering book for girls to read and also a book for boys to see that women had also participated in the war. Its a nice gender stereotype breaking book. I would love to have students research the American Revolution and find facts that they think most people don't know about the Revolution.