Seven Brave Women

by Betsy Hearne, Bethanne Andersen (Illustrator)

Take a journey through time as a young girl recounts the exploits of her female ancestors, seven brave women who left their imprints on the past and on her. Beginning with the great-great-great-grandmother who came to America on a wooden sailboat, these women were devout and determined and tireless and beloved.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Historical, Biography Memoir, American Revolution, School

24 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 1997

About the author

Betsy Hearne is the author of numerous articles and books, including Choosing Books for Children: A Commonsense Guide, the folktale anthology Beauties and Beasts, fiction for both children and young adults, and picture books—one of which, Seven Brave Women, won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. The former children's book editor of Booklist and of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, she has reviewed books for almost forty years and contributes regularly to The Horn Book Magazine.

Hearne was the former Director of The Center for Children's Books and a professor emerita in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught children's literature and storytelling for many years.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous family her-story about unsung heroes, the ones who didn't fight the wars that fill the history books. Might inspire 7-10 year old children to ask for their own family stories.

[Tammy J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about 7 brave women in this family. It starts out with a great, great, great grandmother and moves through the family tree. It is about courage and standing up for what you believe is right. You don't have to fight in a war to fight for what you feel is right. You just have to have the courage to speak. Everyone fights in their own way. I am sure we fight for what we want on a daily basis in some way or another.

Through this book you get to capture the essence of what it means to be a Mennonite. It is fun to see what they cherish in their family and how very different life was back decades ago. These items are passed down by generations and each tell a story of how the women were so brave and did things that weren't typical for women to do. The girl really values her family and tells about all the great things they do. She talks about the things she is good at as well. With each person they did different things and they were unique. She says that one day she will make history because there are a million ways to be brave.

All of the pages of the book contain a bird and a ribbon which tell us that all of these women are connected and like a string it has two ends and can keep going and be never ending. A family keeps going even through struggles. The illustrations key in on the items that are most valuable to the little girl and hold the family history. They help to tell the story and help the reader visualize the words that are being conveyed.

If I were to use this book, I would use it with grades 3,4,and 5. I remember reading books about family tree's during my schooling. We conducted a family tree and collected information and pictures of our families and got to share them during class. I think it would be a great thing to bring in something that you value or an item that has been passed down through generations to tell the story of your family. Women never fought in any wars but I feel as though they fought personal battles often and had to fight to get things done or to be apart of the community, work force, or extra curricular activities. We don't know how lucky we are to live in a high tech valued society. Women still are not treated as fairly but we have gotten more rights thanks to people like the seven brave women (Elizabet, Eliza, Nellie, Helen, Betty, Margret, the mother, the girl). If you are in a religious school you might discuss Elizabeth since she is referenced in the bible.

Themes: faith, honor, rights, stereotypes, religion, gender roles, gender inequality

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before reading this book I thought it was about a selection of seven women well known in history. It actually is about women from the author's family who had shown to be brave in some way or another, and have had an imprint in the author and her family. These grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and even great-great-great-grandmothers emigrated, were midwives, artists, doctors, missioner, harpists, architects, etc. They were brave in the decisions they made and the way they lived their lives. As the author says in the introduction, they "made history by not fighting in wars". Elizabeth had the courage to cross mountains and the ocean to give her children a better life. Betty was the only woman in a "men's school". Helen took care of sick poor women in India.

Although this is a picture book, the text is not intended for little ones, but I'd say the age range is from 6 to 10 years old.
The colorful illustrations are done in oil paints on gesso, and mainly focused in each woman. I liked the detail of a bird gathering them with a pink ribbon along the book.

*This review is part of my project Characters with characters

Check out more children's book reviews in my Reviews in Chalk Blog!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple to read, but complex ideas that keep me thinking. I love history and I love family history and I love the history of regular people. This book just made me want to cheer and make at least 10 other people sit down with me (one at a time) and let me read it to them. And then write one of their own. The selection of women and the things they did were varied and illustrated lots of different bravery.
It was just fabulous.
And then, after all that I read the back book cover and found out that the illustrator is a BYU graduate. Extra bonus for it.

[Lora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gift to my mom from the author's daughter, Lizzie (Elizabeth).
I enjoyed reading this with my mom and so did she (we still read it every now and then, when we want some inspiration :D )

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a great way to get children to think about their family history. It's a great example of how strong women are and the important role we play in our families and in society. I loved how the book progressed through the generations starting in chapter one with her great-great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth; then ending with herself in chapter eight. Each generation of women doing "great things."

The author's words sum this book up the best:

"Take a journey through time with seven women who left their indelible imprints on the past...They fought many battles but never in any wars...They found a million ways to be brave. And so can you."
-Betsy Hearne

[Megen Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about seven women, in this girl's family women who have lived during the war but have never fought. Each woman had a short story of the trials that they have gone through. Each of the women has faced hard lives and helps people along the way when possible. This is a book I think would make a good read-aloud when talking about women in history. While the stories were good, this still is not my favorite children's book of all time. I do think that a group of kids will really like this story, especially as a read-aloud book with the teacher. I also think this is a good book to talk about courage and doing something to help others even in the harder times. It also shows the perspective of women in these time periods, not just the men we read about in the history books for class.

[ECKane · Rating 5 out of 5]

“She says history should be her story, too, and she tells stories about all the women I. Our family who made history by not fighting wars.”

This is a beautiful tribute to mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers who made a difference in the world. Don’t think light of what these women accomplished. Bravery wears many different faces. These women did amazing things to survive in a tough world.

[Julia Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so special and I have never read anything like it. I love the family aspect through the lives of many women passed down. Separating history through what their family went through rather than by wars in a history book. The illustrations were not my style, but I think the content makes up for that. This book also received the Jane Addams Children's Book Award.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

History books mark time with wars, but this book briefly tells the stories of seven women, marking 6 generations of the author's family. Each of these women is ordinary, but their lives are nevertheless remarkable.

[Chris Hays · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not bad, yet it completely misses the intended audience.

[Ally Copper · Rating 4 out of 5]

We talk about history by talking about wars. We keep track of time through the ages by keeping track of who our enemies were. We count the decades and the centuries by counting the number of countries we defeated or that defeated us. It is a bleak way of reviewing our past, and it only reveals part of the truth.

Thankfully Betsy Hearne gives us a different way of looking at history in "Seven Brave Women." This is a story about seven women who never fought in any wars. They worked and raised families and were brave. As Hearne tells us, they all did great things. How often we forget our maternal lineage as we follow our last names through the past from patriarch to patriarch! What a rich history we miss when we focus only on the contributions of men! How much we learn when we take a look at the quieter, gentler (but no less meaningful) stories left by our mothers and grandmothers! Readers will be grateful to Betsy Hearne for this beautiful reminder through this loving tribute to the brave women who shaped her (and our country's) past.

The oil paint illustrations by Bethanne Anderson give us a vision of these brave women. Each picture depicts the women doing something they loved and taking care of those they loved. Each picture is tied together by a pink ribbon that passes across each illustration, demonstrating how all of the generations of brave women are connected. This picture book is somewhat text heavy, so it would be best for older elementary readers (second through fourth grade). It would be an informative addition to a history class, a Women's History Month unit, or a genealogy lesson. It puts a new spin on history that will make all readers look differently at the past.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl tells the tales of all her female ancestors. She is able to trace her lineage back to her Great-Great-Great-Grandmother who lived during the Revolutionary war. She traveled to America from England. Many of her ancestors lived through the wars that America fought in. They never participated in any of the wars. These women were all accomplished in one way or another. She continues on describing her Great-Great Grandmother that lived during the War of 1812, her Great Grandmother that lived during Spanish American War, another Great-Grandmother that lived during WWI, Her Grandmother that lived during WWII, her Grandmother that lived during the Korean Ward, and her Mother that lived during Vietnam. All of these women did great things and instill pride in her. This is a great book for both young boys and girls. Though I think it would be especially appreciated by young girls. It would be nice for them to see women excelling throughout history. This would help instill confidence and develop self-esteem in the young reader. The illustrations are done in an impressionist style which lends to the way the story is told. The narrator is remembering her ancestors which could possibly be a bit foggy because of the time lapse. The carefree brush strokes used in impressionism creates that imprecise image.

I would recommend this book elementary age students 3-5. I think students that struggle with self-esteem would do well to read this book so they can view others' success.

[Tine Martinsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

”Seven brave women” is a book about seven brave women, as a girl tells seven different stories about her female ancestors. The book is built up as a time-line and the stories come from different events in the history. It basically tells the story of seven related but different women, that didn’t fight in any war, but helped out or fought it in a different way by doing good things. I would say that this book is good to use with older children while learning about World-history. It gives you a different perspective of what happened during the different events, and at the same time, they use the time-line to tell when and what happened.

I think that it is important for children to know more about the world history, and what happened during the war, and not only the bad stuff. This is also a good book about telling stories and bringing them into the future, to tell other people what you may have experienced and create your own history. This would be fun to try in a school class. By letting the children write a story or an event in their lives, and put it in a “time-box” that cannot be opened until later in their lives, or maybe save them, and give it to children from newer generations.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed "Seven Brave Women" as it focused on family history. It also focused on women and as it states not on war. It starts with our narrators great-great-great-grand mother Elizabeth who immigrated with her children while pregnant enduring the harsh environment of the New World. The story continues discussing the narrator’s great-great-grandmother Eliza and goes down the family line from her great-grandmothers Nellie and Helen, to her grandmothers Betty and Margaret, to her mother all the way down to herself. I liked that this book highlighted women who where family noting unique characteristics, implying as we go down the family line that our narrator has a lot she can be and a lot of potential for he future. The illustrations are beautiful. I found it interesting the there was a bird in the illustrations holding a ribbon in its beak seemingly tying the story together further suggesting that all these women have led up to a young women, our narrator, who has great potential to make her own mark in history like the women before her.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hearne, Betsy; Andersen, Bethanne; Seven Brave Women, Greenwillow Books, 1997, picture story book, age 5 - 11.Lexile: 840L

This book is about a girl sharing the history of her brave grandmothers, during times of war, although they did not fight in the war. Such bravery her ancestors faced was crossing the sea in a sailboat, working on a farm, attending medical school, and building structures.

Rate it 1-5: 5 This book deserves a 5 because of the vivid imagery and colors that matches the story that's being told, the repetition of the first two sentences on each page, and the descriptions/detail of what each ancestor did. The repetition of the first two sentences allows children of all ages to be aware of how each chapter will begin and can feel involved and excited for the details to follow. As students hear this story out loud, they are able to look at the pictures and see images in detail that are being described such as "building", "riding a horse", "flower paintings on cups", "traveling by boat with two kids and being pregnant", and "she took in dogs and cats".

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this story, the narrator takes the reader through the lives of seven women in her family that may not have fought in the battle, but achieved greatness in their own ways. These women were everyday housewives and farmers, but each had their own fight that they won. My favorite story was about her great-great grandmother, whose husband fought in World War II. She had the courage to go to medical school and went on to open up a school in India. I think this story is great for women because it teaches them they can be strong without actually partaking in the fighting of wars. The pictures inside this story help to bring the reader into the lifestyle of each of the women including the narrator. In the classroom, I would use this story to teach how sometimes fighting is not the answer to being successful. After reading the story, I could continue teaching my students about other powerful women from our history and maybe have them write about it.

[Yasmin Gomez Geng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen very few books that are so personal and open. When I first grabbed this book, I thought historically important women would be covered but no.

Instead this story starts off with "In the Old days, history books marked time by the wars that men fought. The United States began with the Revolutionary War. Then there was the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the First World War, the Second World Was, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. But there are others ways to tell time. My mother does not believe that wars should be fought at all. She has history should be her story, too, and she tells stories about all the women in our family who made history by not fighting in wars."

And goes to list six women from the author's extended family that made an impact of history without fighting in a war.

Grade: 1st Grade to 3rd Grade
Topic: History, Women's History Month, Important Women in History

[Enasia Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seven Brave Women, is a collection of different stories about seven women who are the main characters ancestors. All of the ancestors tell a story and they leave and imprint on the main character. It is great to see a story that tells about female characters that are brave and do things that many children will not see in other stories. For example, coming to America on a wooden sailboat. This narrative also teaches about history and generations, something that young children may not be to familiar with. I could not find any connection to the author, Betsy Hearne. But the illustrator, Bethanne Andersen, has great oil paintings that can inspire students to replicate and tell about their ancestors or about an event that happened in history. Overall, it is a great book that gives a different female perspective, instead of showing a brave male perspective.

[RLL22016_MarinaVasquez]

Seven Brave women tells a story of a young girl lie of women ancestors on how they done so much in history. This book opens a new world to children that teaches them that there is different ways to be brave that people don't have to fight in war to be consider brave they can be able to face change. They can also be the first women in history to go to an all men's artitech school and face the discrimination from men and still study to be a great artitech. Many women now of days still face a lot of difficulties due to their gender, yet some people won't consider as brave but shall due them fighting an war of rights to do things. I recommend this book to both young boys and girls to open their eyes to see that even though, women today may not do huge things that are consider by everyone brave, yet the small things still count as them being tough.

[David Wachlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Seven Brave Women, the narrator traces history (or "herstory") through the lives of the women in her family, all the way back to her great-great-great-grandmother. Rather than talk about history in terms of the wars men have fought, the narrator describes the families and relationships the women in her family built, the contributions they made to their community and to the world. This obviously connects to social studies concepts about the different perspectives, and despite being defined against war, the stories help to give context to the wars that the Seven Brave Women were NOT fighting in.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My great-great-great-grandmother did great things. Elizabeth lived during the Revolutionary War, but she did not fight in it." And so the book begins to tell the stories of seven generations of women. Women who struggled and achieved, even though their stories are often in the margins of the historical events they lived through, even though their achievements sometimes worked at cross purposes to the wars they survived.

My 4 year old didn't catch the subversion here. But he did listen with interest to the stories of interesting women through history. And now he has seven stories of peace and bravery to pull out when he's told that history is written by the victors.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betsy Hearne had some remarkable women in her family! This children's book recounts her family, what each women ancestor lived through and what she gave back to the world. There is a subtle peace theme going on since the Author uses wars to date the time her ancestors lived and each time she mentions war she says that her ancestor did not fight in it. I am fine with peaceful women, but I also accepting that great women can fight in wars too. A good message for any girl, she can give/change the world.

[Mikailah Shackleford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and I think children would enjoy this book a lot too. The book is about family history and begins by telling the story of the main characters great great great grandmother named Elizabeth and how she came over on a sailboat while she was pregnant. It then continues to talk about another 6 brave women in her generation. I do not think people know too much about their family history but i think people should know more. This could make children want to know more about their family and where they came from.

[McKinzie Elton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would use think-pair-share and ask students some of the following questions before reading the book:

Do you know what ancestors are?
What makes a person brave?
Can you tell me something about your ancestors?
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?

After sharing, I will tell that students that the book we are going to read will tell us some interesting things that the women in the author's family have done and the hardships they have overcome. Have students think about whether they would be able to do what the women in the story do while I read the book.

[Marissa J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the story of seven brave women and the trying times they have been through that constitute the bravety of each woman.

"Seven Brave Women" is an awesome story for readers who are ready to move from easy readers to begining chapter books. About every two pages, a new chapter begins. This helps students/the audience get use to the format of chapter books without requiring them to read lengthy chapters. The illustrations also help the reader to understand what the text is stating.

[John Hugens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven Brave women could be integrated into almost any section of a social studies class as it covers a broad range of history from the revolutionary war/war of 1812 to Vietnam and modern times. Further, it will complicate the traditional, canonical male-centric way that history is presented by allowing students to view women as part of history as well. Finally this book, with its focus on family history, could be used to start (or finish) a family tree project with students.

[Emily Mckenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book, because my mom has been researching our family too, tracing the maternal line which not many people do. I feel connected to people I've never met because I know their stories and this book, similarly inspired and with similar purpose, gives me the same feeling.

My reasons for liking this book is personal, but not especially unique. Many people like to feel a connection to those who went before, and this connection is a feeling worth sharing. I recommend sharing this book.

[JustOneMoreBook.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radiant with peace and perseverence, this beautiful string of family remembrances gently sips and savours the contributions of seven remarkably unremarkable women.


Listen to our chat about this book on our JustOneMoreBook.com Children's Book Podcast:
http://www.justonemorebook.com/2007/0...

[Liaken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book about the strong women in the life of the author. She starts each person's entry with the war that they were alive during, but that they didn't fight in it. Then she goes on to show how they lived their lives to add good to the world. It has a subtle "peace and life rather than war and death" undertone. The pictures are perfect.