Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America

by Deborah Diesen, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)

Overview

Learn all about the history of voting rights in the United States—from our nation’s founding to the present day—in this powerful picture book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Pout-Pout Fish.

A right isn’t right
till it’s granted to all...

The founders of the United States declared that consent of the governed was a key part of their plan for the new nation. But for many years, only white men of means were allowed to vote. This unflinching and inspiring history of voting rights looks back at the activists who answered equality’s call, working tirelessly to secure the right for all to vote, and it also looks forward to the future and the work that still needs to be done.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534439580
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	369,366
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Deborah Diesen is the author of many children’s picture books, including the New York Times bestselling The Pout-Pout Fish and Equality’s Call. She loves playing with words and rhymes and rhythms. She has worked as a bookseller, a bookkeeper, and a reference librarian. She and her family live in Michigan.

Magdalena Mora is a Minneapolis-based illustrator and graphic designer with a special interest in children’s books and visual storytelling. When she isn’t drawing, she spends her free time reading, people-gawking, and trying to find the best tacos in the Twin Cities. Equality’s Call by Deborah Diesen is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

11/25/2019

This outspoken tribute to suffrage alternates between a contemporary school where voting rights is the topic at hand, and vignettes that portray the signing of the U.S. Constitution and then forward through the many struggles to make “consent of the governed” a reality for all. Every few pages, Diesen offers the drumbeat-like refrain that insists on the inexorable justice of “Equality’s call” (“A right isn’t right/ Till it’s granted to all”), while Mora’s chalky mixed-media images, which draw on the motifs of Latin American and WPA muralism, show an ever-growing procession of determined people—abolitionists and suffragettes, famous activists and ordinary citizens—who faced and fought obstacles to voting. Every vote today is a nod to this hard-won history, Diesen reminds readers: “Each time we vote,/ We acknowledge that past.” A list of amendments and voting rights activists ends this volume. Ages 3–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

02/01/2020

K-Gr 2—This introduction to the history of voting rights in the United States includes a catchy and powerful refrain: "A right isn't right/Till it's granted to all." Charming mixed-media illustrations convey the slow but steady forward momentum of progress. Double-page spreads depict increasingly large crowds of people fighting for equal rights over the years. Back matter provides further understanding of amendments, legislation, and the many leaders who played essential roles in the long struggle to grant full and safe participation in our elections to people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. While the rhyming text makes the story suitable and very appealing for young readers, words like abolition, suffrage, franchise, and enslavement may require adult explanations. VERDICT A useful presentation of an important topic that will be a valuable curriculum resource and also encourage parent-child conversation.—Gloria Koster, formerly at West School, New Canaan, CT

School Library Journal

2019-11-10
A poetic narrative charts the history of voting rights in the United States from the founders to the present, emphasizing that "A right isn't right / Till it's granted to all."

A black woman at a blackboard instructs a class (and readers) in an inclusive "we" as the voices of democracy swell to affirm the expansion of voting rights. Diesen (in a dramatic departure from her Pout-Pout Fish series) and Mora effectively employ the drama of the turning page as, on each spread when the refrain is resounded, the number of people marching grows from two black women and a black man to a host of the historically disenfranchised. The final refrain is a crescendo, complemented by a double-page spread depicting a crowded, diverse line of marchers. As they march from left to right into the page turn, readers are reminded that "The journey's not over / The work hasn't ended / Democracy's dream / Must be constantly tended." The pages act as a timeline, and several illustrations depict historical figures, including Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, and John Lewis. (A backmatter key helps identify the many activists represented.) As an introduction, the volume focuses on the progress and not the obstacles, but caregivers can supplement the history, using the extensive backmatter addressed to them: information on related constitutional amendments and relevant legislation and a two-page list of voting rights activists.

A solid work of visual storytelling. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews