Arts & Entertainment
'She Persisted' by Chelsea Clinton - A Review
The Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation wrote this book to inspire young readers and their parents to never give up on their dreams.
In She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World (2017,) Chelsea Clinton introduces readers to some inspirational women who never gave up. The author celebrates a wide variety of American women who helped to shape the country because they persisted.
This beautiful picture book features art by Alexandra Boiger that accompanies the inspiring text written by the former first daughter.
In her dedication, Ms. Clinton notes that the book was inspired by Senator Elizabeth Warren, and was written in celebration of all women who persist every day. Like all of us. The illustrator dedicates the book to some of her heroines: Coretta Scott King, Sophie Scholl and her mother Berta Boiger.
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The book features thirteen persistent women, some very familiar and some lesser known. They include Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Clara Lemlich, Nellie Bly, Virginia Apgar, Maria Tallchief, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges, Margaret Chase Smith, Sally Ride, Florence Griffith Joyner, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor. Keep your eyes open for one very special cameo at the beginning of the book.
"I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can't sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.'" - Claudette Colvin
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Did you know that Clara Lemlich, an immigrant from Ukraine, organized picket lines and strikes protesting conditions in garment factories, ultimately winning better pay, shorter hours and safer working conditions for thousands of workers? Did you remember that Nellie Bly was a reporter pretended to be a sweatshop worker and a patient in a mental hospital to write about how badly people were being treated? That Maria Tallchief refused to change her last name to something that sounded Russian and became the first great American prima ballerina?
The reading age is listed as 4 - 8, but younger children would need to have someone who loves them read it to them. A copy of She Persisted is available from the Children's Department of the Howard Whittemore Memorial Library; it was donated in memory of Josephine A. Gibino.
The author has also written She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History and She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changed the Game.
