Elizabeth Leads the Way:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote

Henry Holt Books | 2008 | Ages 4 and up
Illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon

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A Junior Library Guild Premier Selection

Starred review, Booklist: "A must for library shelves."

Book Links Best New Books of 2008 

A Booklist Top Ten Youth Biography

An ALA Notable Book 

A 2009 Amelia Bloomer Award Book 

A CBC Notable Social Studies Book 

A 2009 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended Reading List book 

A 2009 Minnesota Comstock Award Honor Book 

School Library Journal: "energetic, lucid prose...just right for a young audience."

Publishers Weekly: "Stone fires up readers" 

Kirkus: "lively prose well-matched by Gibbon's irrepressible images"

Horn Book: "Stone engages modern readers and sets the nineteenth-century stage for them...upbeat...highlights Elizabeth's energy"

Scholastic, Instructor magazine: "Stone, who’s penned knockout biographies about Abraham Lincoln and Ella Fitzgerald, now lends grace and humor to the life of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman whose efforts we can be grateful for in an election year."

Orlando Sentinel: "graceful tribute" 

Strand Bookstore: "This inspiring tale shows how an amazing woman changed America forever."

Meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who stood up and fought for what she believed in. In nineteenth-century America, women were not allowed to go to college, own property, or vote. Instead, they were expected to marry, have babies, and keep house for their husbands. But rather than accept her lesser status, Elizabeth gathered other like-minded women to challenge the right to vote. Here is the inspiring story of an extraordinary woman who changed America forever.

What would you do

if someone told you

you can't be what you want to be

because you are a girl?

What would you do

if someone told you

your vote doesn't count

your voice doesn't matter

because you are a girl?

Would you ask why?

Would you talk back?

Would you fight...

Starred Review, Booklist: "Most young people will be unfamiliar with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and what she accomplished. Stone goes a long way towards correcting that, wisely beginning with a pithy introduction that links the life of women in the early nineteenth century with that of readers today: "What would you do if someone told you..."...What follows is a short, incisive biography covering some of the high points of Stanton's life, beginning with her shocking realization of how unfairly the law treated women, which translated into Stanton's lifelong work for women's suffrage. In short text bites, Stone explains how Stanton met her abolitionist husband (and refused to give up her name), the origins of the women's rights movement, and the impact of the Women's Rights Conference in Seneca Falls, New York. This focus works well for the audience, though the brevity leaves some holes. Susan B. Anthony, for instance, is pictured, though unnamed. The child-pleasing artwork features characters a bit reminiscent of clothespin dolls, but the cameos of action, matched by full-page pictures, make the history accessible. A must for library shelves."

School Library Journal: "Stone looks at the life of Stanton from childhood to her emergence as a pioneering leader of women's rights. The "strong-spirited, rule-breaking" girl asserted her independence by embracing physical and academic challenges and by questioning traditional viewpoints. This comes through in energetic, lucid prose that focuses on Elizabeth's ideas and feelings rather than on specific events. By consistently sticking to the subject's own experiences, without detours into historical details or dates, the author introduces a historical figure whom readers can relate to as a person. Excellent gouache and colored pencil illustrations...establish the time period through visual details and capture Stanton's spirit and the attitudes of those she encounters without overstatement....An author's note briefly covers Stanton's subsequent accomplishments. Through words and pictures that work together and an emphasis on ideas and personality rather than factoids, this well-conceived introduction is just right for a young audience." -Steven Engelfried, Multnomah County Library, OR

Kirkus: "In lively prose well-matched by Gibbon's irrepressible images, Stone tells the story of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The breezy narrative visits Elizabeth at key moments in her youth...Gibbon uses pattern and line on white backgrounds to set off her figures and exaggerated gestures and expressions to give them energy. A fine introduction for very young readers to the woman and her key role in American history."

Horn Book: "From the opening sentences, Stone engages modern readers and sets the nineteenth-century stage for them....An easy-to-read text outlines the life of pioneering feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton...upbeat...highlights Elizabeth's energy."