Prudence Crandall

by Elizabeth Yates

Boyds Mills Press publishes a wide range of high-quality fiction and nonfiction picture books, chapter books, novels, and nonfiction

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Childrens

32 pages, Library Binding

First published September 30, 1955

About the author

Elizabeth Yates, author of over forty books for children, was born in New York State on December 6th, 1905. Determined to be an author, she moved to New York City to launch her career. She worked a variety of jobs including reviewing book, writing short stories, and doing research. She moved to England with her husband and wrote her first book, High Holiday, based on her travels in Switzerland with her three children. The family returned to the U.S. in 1939 and settled in New Hampshire. Yates won the Newbery Award in 1951 for her book, Amos Fortune, Free Man, a biography of an African prince who is enslaved and taken to America.

Yates conducted writer's workshops at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Connecticut, and Indiana University. She also served as the Director of the New Hampshire Association for the Blind.

Yates was widowed in 1963. Elizabeth Yates died Sunday at a hospice in Concord, New Hampshire on July 29, 2001 at the age of 95.

Elizabeth Yates' books have been described as "the result of extensive research, a strong underlying belief in God, and a vivid imagination."

Reviews

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where has this book been all my life? I'm so glad I finally read it after having it on my shelf for close to a year. This is a story-style biography of Prudence Crandall, a Quaker teacher who lived in Connecticut in the 1800s and changed her own life—and the lives of many others—by one small decision: to let a Black girl into her school.

The writing is a teensy bit old-fashioned (the dialogue is written true to the times that Prudence Crandall lived in), but if you can handle Jane Austen, this will be a breeze. It is well written and well paced. I can't believe I'm saying this about a biography, but I actually stayed up late last night finishing it.

Highly recommended!

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may have been written with children in mind but it is so well written that even as an adult I enjoyed the story of Prudence Crandall's courage to stand up and provide education for the black women at that time. Prudence did not see the girls as property but as God's children.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

She makes me happy to be a Crandall! Truly inspiring!

[Erin Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story of a great woman of faith and courage.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prudence Crandall is an interesting, well written book that teaches about the time period leading up to the Civil War and Prudence Crandall's life. She was an amazing person.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book! A little old-fashioned maybe, but inspiring. The story of a Quaker woman who felt she was meant to start a boarding school for "colored girls." In the 1830's. She was way ahead of her time and truly a woman of courage! This is one I need to own and have my family read, too.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Yates is known for solid historical fiction, and this book features the life of early 1800s Quaker activist, Prudence Crandall. She was a teacher and determined to teach “young ladies and misses of color,” in her words. girls of any color. The backlash from parents and townspeople thrust her into the heat of the Black Law prohibition.

[Roni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I immensely enjoyed reading the book about a woman named Prudence Crandall who had a courage to stand up for her belief despite how her town folks persecuted her for establishing a school for colored girls to get an education. It was an easy reading.

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not on my favorite topic, but it was good and well written. It was interesting and I did learn things I hadn't known before. A good biography of someone willing to stand up and do what was right even in the face of prejudice and hate.

[Simple.eyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good so far.

[Marci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing true story of courage in the face of adversity.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

precursor to Landmark Books series?
intro by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

[Junessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful historical story of this amazing lady.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prudence Crandall by Elizabeth Yates- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- the book narrates the story of Prudence Crandall (1803-1890) was an American schoolteacher and activist. She ran the first school for Afro-American girls in the United States, located in Canterbury, Connecticut. When Crandall admitted Sarah Harris, a 20-year-old African-American female student in 1832 to her school, she had what is considered the first integrated classroom in the United States. Parents of the white children began to withdraw their daughters from her school. Prudence was a "very obstinate girl", according to her brother Reuben. Rather than ask the African-American student to leave, she decided that if white girls would not attend with the blacks, she would educate black girls. She was arrested and spent a night in jail. Soon the violence of the townspeople forced her to close the school. She left Connecticut and never lived there again. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[Hannah S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting and impactful book. When God calls His children to stand for truth, He can support them through seemingly impossible pressures. The emphasis on refusing to hate those who persecute us is powerful.

The only problem with the 2019 Bibliotech Press hardcover edition is the typos that often come when original texts have been scanned for reproduction.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quick good and inspiring read.

[Elizabeth R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I hope to review this soon, from a keyboard. Set in Connecticut c1830, with all too many parallels to today, unfortunately.)

[Inspiration Station · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to imagine that people of color were refused education for a time in our nation's history. Loved that Prudence Crandall sought them out to teach, stand up for, and educate.