Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass
by Dean Robbins (Author) Selina Alko (Illustrator)
Some people had rights, while others had none.
Why shouldn't they have them, too?
Two friends, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, get together for tea and conversation. They recount their similar stories fighting to win rights for women and African Americans. The premise of this particular exchange between the two is based on a statue in their hometown of Rochester, New York, which shows the two friends having tea.
The text by award-winning writer Dean Robbins teaches about the fight for women's and African Americans' rights in an accessible, engaging manner for young children. Two Friends is beautifully illustrated by Selina Alko and Sean Qualls, the husband-and-wife team whose The Case for Loving received three starred reviews! Two Friends includes back matter with photos of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.
Locate at a Library Near You WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Find books about:
ALA/Booklist
Kirkus
Publishers Weekly
Robbins's debut introduces two mutually supportive U.S. civil rights activists, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. After Douglass drives his horse-drawn wagon down a snowy street, the subsequent spread of a room aglow in warm candlelight shows the two friends facing each other, teacups in hand. Short, parallel biographies of these 19th-century crusaders comprise most of the narrative; each "read about rights in the United States. The right to live free. The right to vote. Some people had rights, while others had none." The husband-and-wife team of Qualls and Alko (The Case for Loving) uses paint, colored pencil, and collage to create symbolic illustrations with a folk-art feel. Flowery script is woven cleverly into the pages: steam from teacups, Anthony's ahead-of-her-time bloomers, and even sidewalks are filled with words and ideas endemic in their campaigns ( "Right is of no gender... is of no color"). An author's note and bibliography conclude a visually appealing primer on these civil rights reformers. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.)
Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
K-Gr 3—Robbins imagines the meeting between Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass at Anthony's house over tea. Both were champions of freedom and voting rights—Anthony for women and Douglass for African Americans. Emphasizing the commonality between these two famous Americans, the author effectively uses parallel phrasing: "Some people liked [his/her] ideas about rights.... Others didn't." A note mentions that Anthony and Douglass spoke out for each other's causes. Husband-and-wife team Qualls and Alko's beautiful illustrations are rendered in acrylic and gouache, and the two used collages of cutout strips with ink writing, giving the book an 18th-century look. VERDICT Readers will come away remembering a brief episode in history that demonstrates that cooperation can be found in unexpected places.—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
* "Despite the gentle way this book unfolds, the language and images deal a blow to racist thinking and just might inspire the next generation of young civil rights activists." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "Inspirational, never heavy-handed, and appropriate for just about everyone." — Booklist, starred review
Praise for Dizzy by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Sean Qualls:
* "Qualls's acrylic, collage, and pencil illustrations swing across the large pages with unique, jazzy rhythms, varying type sizes and colors, and playful perspectives, perfectly complementing the text." — School Library Journal, starred review
* "Qualls is able to translate the story (and the music) into shapes and colors that undulate and stream across the pages with a beat and bounce of their own." — Booklist, starred review
Sean Qualls finds inspiration everywhere, from old buildings, nature, fairy tales, black memorabilia, and outsider art to cave paintings, African imagery, mythology, music, and his native Brooklyn. He is the co-illustrator, with his wife, Selina Alko, of the celebrated picture books Two Friends by Dean Robbins and The Case for Loving by Selina Alko. Other acclaimed picture books he has illustrated include Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni Morrison and her son Slade, Dizzy by Jonah Winter, and Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family. Visit him online at seanqualls.com.
Dean Robbins is a journalist and the author of the children's picture books Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing, and Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote. His award-winning books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and have been praised in the New York Times and USA Today. Dean grew up idolizing Apollo astronauts and loved working with Alan Bean on The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon. Learn more at deanrobbins.net.
JUV004020 - Juvenile Fiction | Biographical | United States
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
United States
Civil rights
Slaves
Slavery
Women's rights
Douglass, Frederick
Emancipation
Anthony, Susan B
