Ballots for Belva:
The True Story of a Woman's Race for the Presidency
By Studipta Bardhan-Quallen, illustrated by Courtney Martin
(Abrams Books, 2008)
32 pp. $16.95
This well-illustrated biography tells the story of Belva Lockwood, an audacious woman who ran for President in 1884, almost three decades before U.S. women's right to vote was ratified by the 19th Amendment. She had to fight her way into and through law school and was the first woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this election year, this book is especially useful in showing how the right to vote was fought for and won through actions by many people who refused to tolerate inequality.
When the Shadbush Blooms
By Carla Messinger
(Tricycle Press, 2007)
32 pp. $15.95
A beautifully illustrated book that deftly weaves the lives of Native Americans separated by 400 years into a unifying whole. Abenaki storyteller and writer Joseph Bruchac writes, "Both text and pictures invite you in, not as a stranger viewing a different culture, but a welcome guest. It does not embed a Native nation in the distant past. Instead, we see both then and now side by side, deeply connected, flowing into each other."
Stuffed & Starved:
The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
By Raj Patel
(Melville House, 2007)
398 pp. $19.95