A review by jennifermreads
Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies by Cokie Roberts

2.0

I thoroughly enjoyed looking a little bit into the lives of some of the women who had an impact on the founding of our nation. There were some names I knew: Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Dolley Madison. There were more names I had never heard: Mercy Otis Warren, Phillis Wheatley, Esther DeBerdt Reed, Sarah Livingston Jay, and Catherine Littlefield Greene. I also was not familiar with any of the names dropped on the featured double-page spreads Women Writers and Women Warriors. So this was a real history lesson for me … or rather it had the potential to be a real history lesson. What do I foresee instead? I see masses of little girls and boys coming to the library desk looking for “more about Sarah Livingston Jay” or “Esther DeBerdt Reed” because there wasn’t enough in this particular volume to satisfy curious minds.

Given that Ms. Roberts wrote a full-length adult version on this subject, I would have hoped for a teensy bit more from this version-for-kids. And, while I’m grateful for the list of websites at the end of the book and the acknowledgements given to the libraries that assisted the author, I would have hoped that the book, which touts itself as supporting the Common Core, had included a list of resources! How can we teach children to do good research when books do not offer credit where credit is due?

Overall, this was enough to spark curiosity but not enough to quench it.