Juliette Low: Girl Scout Founder (4)

by Helen Boyd Higgins, Cathy Morrison (Illustrator)

Over two million Girl Scouts worldwide owe their membership to its founder, Juliette Low—a woman who, as a girl growing up in the post–Civil War South, refused to accept that girls couldn’t do everything boys could. Whether angrily defending her friend against taunts of schoolmates or rescuing a kitten from the highest branches of a tree, Low possessed the spirit and strength of character that would lead her in adulthood to act as a world-famous advocate for girls. Children will experience Low’s joy at the gift of her very own horse, feel her excitement at attending her first dance, and share her frustration with being thrust in to the role of a well-behaved 19th-century young lady who would rather have been riding, creating sculptures, or climbing.

Genres: Biography, Childrens

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Helen Boyd Higgins (1892-1971) was the author of numerous books for children about famous Americans, including Alexander Hamilton, Stephen Foster, and Noah Webster. She lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover says Girl Scout Founder but the inside says Money Grab.

I mean, I get wanting to tell children about the childhood of such an amazing woman - but was it necessary to make Juliette Low so annoyingly precocious?

Juliette spends the first part of the book righteously defending her confederate family while in the heart of Northern territory.

That I get - she's a kid, she doesn't understand the war, she just knows that her friends and family are fighting for the South.

But is it necessary to make her so annoying? For example, when the war is over, the Northerner's start singing their freedom song.

Once they finish, little 5-or-6-year-old Juliette begins singing the confederate song as an act of defiance...and the gang of big burly southern-hating men...applaud?

Cause she's such a sweet and dandy gal. Gee willikers. If only we had Juliette on the front lines - friendship and rainbows would've happened so much sooner.

The whole book was like that - Juliette would skip from one annoying action to another with nary a thought to her own precocious self - leaving all the adults to marvel over her tenacity and bravery.

Gag me with a spoon.

And then, the last few pages...we get a brief, brief summary of how Juliette thought that Girl Guides would be a great thing to start in the U.S.

The End.

Really? What's the point of calling this book "Juliette Low: Girl Scout Founder" if we don't actually talk about Girl Scouts?

Audiobook Comments
Read by Lynn Taccogna. Juliette sounded like a 60 year old southern belle on her way to Sunday mass - very disconcerting considering she was supposed to be 5 years old.

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[Terry]

All of the titles in this series are excellent. The authors know their audience and engage them immediately. The books are fun to read and provide a little color to the history and heroes that 8- to 12-year-olds might not get from the typical textbook. I wish there was an opportunity to keep the series going with an updated list of heroes and heroines.

To read our full review, go to the Reading Tub.

[Lori Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read to girls for Juliette Low's birthday

[Samantha Bartley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I was homeschooled, my mother bought an entire library for our house years ago filled with every book you’d ever find in an elementary school. So if I’m ever looking for a quick read, I’ll usually go to that shelf of books. The Young Patriots series was a favorite of mine as a kid. I loved learning about famous Americans when they were children. There were books though, that I never remembered reading, including this one on the founder of the Girl Scouts. It was really short, and took me less than an hour to finish. The book was okay. It was a little dull in places, but I learned a lot that I didn’t know about Daisy. It really doesn’t make me want to go do anymore research on her, but I could see how younger children involved in the scouts may enjoy this one.