Heart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President  (Albert Whitman)

2016 New York Statewide Summer Reading Program, ALA's Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 Top Ten List

Heart on Fire Classroom Guide

Susan B. Anthony House, Rochester, New York

Note from Susan B. Anthony to her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton after she cast her vote for president!

"Heart on Fire" displayed at the bookstore at the Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, NY (photo by the Keeters)

HEART ON FIRE: SUSAN B. ANTHONY VOTES FOR PRESIDENT
by Ann Malaspina, Illustrated by Steven James
Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN 13-9780807531884 

On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony made history--and broke the law--when she voted in the US presidential election, a privilege that had been reserved for men. She was arrested, tried, and found guilty: "The greatest outrage History ever witnessed," she wrote in her journal. It wasn't until 1920 that women were granted the right to vote, but the civil rights victory would not have been possible without Susan B. Anthony's leadership and passion to stand up for what was right.

Reviews

​"In spare and elegant free verse, Malaspina shares a vivid act of civil disobedience....Inspiring fodder for an electoral--or any other--year."
Kirkus Reviews

"...digital-media paintings depict an energetic, intense figure with pleasant features. Bold splashes of color add vividness to the pages....As another presidential election approaches, this title would be a good addition to voting or women's-history units."
School Library Journal

"A strong, straightforward introduction to an activitist kids will return to as they grow older." Booklist

"James employs in his illustrations the sedate browns, rusts, and deep blues that instinctively connote propriety of times past, but he also interjects a strong undertone of subversive whimsicality in his almost photorealistic faces, allowing other detail to blur slightly into the background while all the attention is focused on the unflappable Anthony and her blustering antagonists."RECOMMEND, The Bulletin

"Steve James' illustrations are brilliantly detailed and expressive. This book will be a great supplement to the elementary social studies curriculum." Library Media Connection

"Focusing on one aspect of Anthony’s public life, this describes the suffragette’s attempt to vote in an 1887 election, which led to her arrest, trial, and fine. The spare, almost poetic text is well matched by the softly realistic art."  Booklist Online