Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi Calls the House to Order (Hardcover)
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Description
"The text is accessible and clever. . . . It's possible that even children of Republicans will be inspired by the ending." -Kirkus Reviews
This empowering picture book tells the story of Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House and one of the most powerful women in US politics!
Nancy Pelosi is a beacon of patriotism and integrity, demonstrating strength and leadership in her over 30 years in public office. A politician, mother of five, and tireless advocate for the underprivileged, she has dedicated her life to correcting injustice and inequality, and she serves her country with confidence and compassion. Rising from the California Democratic Party Chair to House Minority Leader to become the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is a gifted leader and an inspiration to young women everywhere.
This picture book chronicles the life of one of the United States's most influential women, telling a story that is equal parts moving and empowering.
About the Author
Carole Boston Weatherford has written many award-winning books for children, including Coretta Scott King winner RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul; Newbery Honor winner BOX: Henry Box Brown Mails Himself to Freedom; Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in Congo Square; Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, as well as Golden Kite Award winners Dear Mr. Rosenwald; Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library; and The Roots of Rap. She is currently a professor of English at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina where she created a hip-hop course. Find out more about her at cbweatherford.com.
Chris Hsu is a traditionally trained artist and animation background painter whose credits include the animated spy comedy Archer and an upcoming Marvel animated project. His picture book work, which includes the award-winning The Boo- Boos That Changed the World and I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending, is heavily influenced by art history and music. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in Florida, he's currently based in the Southeast with his wife and two funny and lovely daughters.
Praise For…
A short, admiring biography, punctuated with quotations from Pelosi and accompanied by simple, stylized art.
The initial double-page spread shows little Nancy D'Alesandro stuffing envelopes for one of her father's political campaigns. (He served both in Congress and as Baltimore's mayor.) A framed family portrait-including Nancy's five older brothers-sits beneath a quotation in which she lists her family's allegiances to Catholicism, patriotism, Italian American pride, and the Democratic Party. The text is accessible and clever, as in its assertion that Nancy and her brothers "looked up" to portraits of past presidents and also "never looked down on those who needed a hand up." As the text reveals her passage from youth into adulthood, it suggests that Pelosi learned about leadership from her father and from nuns at her college prep school. Pelosi's own words add motherhood to her leadership training. This and other well-chosen quotations show her cleareyed understanding from an early age of gender-based power dynamics. The text follows her further education; her marriage and swift plunge into raising five children; her congressional work in support of LGBTQ+ rights and the Affordable Care Act; her record-breaking eight hours of speech to protect DACA recipients. The art includes mostly benevolent-looking people of varied racial presentations; the text barely suggests political discord but unabashedly highlights Pelosi's Democratic victories. It's possible that even children of Republicans will be inspired by the ending.
Overall, a solid choice for first-time biography readers.
— Kirkus Reviews