Tuesday, July 24, 2007

32. A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women by Lynne Cheney


Nonfiction book annotation
By: Angela Wilcox

48 pages



Cheney, L. (2003). A is for Abigail: An almanac of amazing American women. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Author Creditability: Lynne Cheney stated in her acknowledgments that she wanted to thank several of her research assistants. She had lots of help researching the material and developing this book. She thanked the American Enterprise Institute for their help and mentioned the four-volume biographical dictionary, Notable American Women in her resource notes about the text.

Summary: This is an alphabet formatted book that focuses on the accomplishments of American women. Each letter takes on a topic that women had a role in partaking in our history or it features a specific woman and what she did along with other women who accomplished similar obstacles. There is a huge emphasis on the women who help to get equal rights for all women. This book opens the readers’ eye to exactly how many women have affected our history. It does not go into great detail about their accomplishments, but does give the reader a start where they may do their own research about a specific person.

Most Important Access Features: This book takes a cartoon like appearance to it. There are several illustrations on a page with labels and information next to the illustration. In the back of the book is a section called “Notes on the Text” which includes a little more detailed information on each letter and the illustrations on the page.

Description of Illustrations: The illustrations were done by Robin Preiss Glasser and are made in black ink, watercolor washes, and colored pencil.

Grade Level & Uses: 2-5 grade; This book could be used to teach about American history and different individuals who had a process in shaping America.

Standards: Time, Continuity, Change; Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

Related Texts & How Related: These books could be used along with A is for Abigail to discuss American history.

America: A Patriotic Primer by Lynne Cheney
A Time for Freedom by Lynne Cheney
We the Kids by David Catrow
Thank you, Sarah: The Women Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson


Quality/Awards:
Arizona Young Reader Book Award Nominee Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award

Personal Response to Book: I liked the friendly cartoon like layout of this book. I enjoyed reading about women that had a role in our history. I believe young girls need to read this book so than can see that women can and do have various jobs and have played very important roles in influencing America.

2 comments:

Allison Fielder said...

I've really been impressed with all the books about women that we have found. This looks like another one that would be great for kids to realize what women have done for our country.

Unknown said...

Our 14yo daughter loves this book. She is also a "Liberty Kids" fanatic :) She thinks it's neat that you included this book in your reviews. Thank you :)

Have a beautiful day :)