There was a time that girls and women in the United States could not: wear pants; play sports on a team; ride a bicycle; or go to college. That all began to change in 1848, when American women (and some men) met in Seneca Falls, NY, at the first convention for women's rights held anywhere in the world. In the familiar question-and-answer format, this installment in the acclaimed If You Lived... history series tells the exciting story of how women worked to get equal rights with men, culminating in the 19th amendment to the Constitution and giving women the right to vote.

This is the kind of book that made me angry, but not at the book itself: it absolutely baffles me that it took so long to achieve such basic rights, for women to be treated as full-fledged people. The idea that the beginning of the women's suffrage movement was hampered by fears that "asking for the vote might make the [Seneca Falls women's movement] convention look silly." The newspaper reporters who claimed "a woman is nobody. A wife is everything." That it still took seventy-two years to get women full voting rights. It's galling, and doubly so to know that this country is STILL denying basic civil rights to certain groups (I'm looking at YOU, Prop 8). This was a book that made me angry, but even more than that, made me profoundly grateful to have been born into a time when it's taken for granted that women can do whatever we want.

My quasi-official review, rather than my visceral reactions:

In a slim 64 pages, this book traces the development of women's rights from 1620-1920, from the pilgrims to the right vote. The book is arranged around several questions (what rights did the first women who settled America have? What did girls wear? Did any men support women's rights?) that don’t necessarily flow out of each other but are still questions children are likely to have. Brief bios of key players (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth, among others) appear just before the questions where they are first introduced, giving readers some context of who these people are. In most cases, the illustrations don’t add a lot to the book, but they are very helpful in the descriptions of clothing to show what petticoats, hoop skirts, and bloomers looked like.

This is a good introduction to women's rights and the fight for gender equality—-a fight that is still, in many ways, going on today. While the historical ideas may seem absurd to today's students (girls shouldn't ride bikes! Women should not work outside their homes!), this is the kind of book that should spark discussion of feminism, gender roles, and empowerment. ( )

This book takes you through the 72 year journey to gain the right for women to vote. It talks about what it was like for women in the 1800s. It discusses what they had to wear and their schooling. It also discusses how they owned nothing and had no rights not even to their children.

This is a really good book about the women’s rights movement. It also gives short bibliography of some of the important women during this movement.

This would be a great book to use when discussing the women’s movement. This book could also be used for older children, especially young women. This is a great reminder of all the hard work and years women put in so that we may have a voice and vote.