Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing
Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing
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HarperCollins
Annotation: Presents a collection of speeches, with historical context and insights, that have shaped the culture of the United States, including Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address, Lou Gehrig's "Farwell to Baseball," and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream."
 
Reviews: 2
Catalog Number: #203439
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2020
Edition Date: 2020 Release Date: 02/11/20
Illustrator: Velasquez, Eric,
Pages: 125 pages
ISBN: 0-06-257204-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-257204-2
Dewey: 815
Dimensions: 29 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

-Listen then to the people who created this country, kept it from disunion, and brought more of its citizens into the fullness of their rights,- invites the foreword (by late journalist Cokie Roberts) of this inspirational collection of speeches. Spanning more than 200 years of U.S. history, from Patrick Henry-s 1775 -Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!- speech to Hillary Rodham Clinton-s 1995 -Women-s Rights Are Human Rights,- most of the orations were fervent pleas for social change and equal rights on behalf of marginalized groups, including African-Americans (Frederick Douglass), women (Sojourner Truth), and migrant farm laborers (César Chavez). Other inclusions, like President Franklin Roosevelt-s, aimed to embolden citizens during difficult socioeconomic times. Velasquez (Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library) provides a striking full-color oil portrait of each orator, preceding the compendium-s true value: Bolden-s (Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl) contextualization. Bordered by colorful concentric speech bubbles and circles, prologues by Bolden anchor each speech within a historical framework and offer biographical details (e.g., Sojourner Truth renamed herself after escaping from enslavement). A wending timeline concludes this resource, which will resonate with its themes of social justice, political discord, and courage. Ages 8-up. (Feb.)

School Library Journal (Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)

Gr 3-6 From Patrick Henry's famous "Liberty or Death" speech in 1775 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's groundbreaking 1995 speech on women's rights, readers are exposed to pivotal moments in American history. Many are familiar but other lesser-known speeches are included, such as Native American chief Red Jacket's "We Never Quarrel About Religion," and Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony in front of the Democratic National Convention in 1964. The strength of this compilation lies in the fact that each speech is preceded by a brief biography of the speaker and an introduction by Bolden that provides a historical perspective. The publishers explain that all efforts were made to represent the speeches as accurately as possible and with minimal editing on their part. However, some of the speeches were not written down by the speaker at the time the speech was given, so there may have been a slight variance in what listeners recalled. Some of the more recent speeches can be accessed on YouTube. Velasquez's vibrant oil on watercolor paper art utilizes full-page, realistic images of each speaker delivering their speech. Colorful, bubble-like circles edge the pages, providing visual coherence throughout. A time line at the back places each speech along the 220-year span they represent, along with other important events in America. There is a foreword by the late NPR reporter Cokie Roberts, but the text does not explain who she was, a lost opportunity to recognize her expertise and why she would have been asked to contribute. VERDICT An important addition to American history collections.Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
School Library Journal (Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)
Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references (pages 124-125).
Reading Level: 4.0
Interest Level: 3-6

Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing is a collection of significant speeches, made both by those who held the reins of power and those who didn’t, at significant times in American history. Read the original words—sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety—that have shaped our cultural fabric. A Chicago Public Library Best Book!

"A wide-ranging collection of speeches and a worthwhile resource for students of American history." —Booklist

"A golden celebration of the multicultural voices who demand the U.S.—and the world—do better." —Kirkus

"An important addition to American history collections." School Library Journal

Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every speech. Illustrations by award-winning artist Eric Velasquez illuminate what it was really like at each moment in history. This collection includes the following:

  • Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
  • George Washington, Farewell Address
  • Red Jacket, “We Never Quarrel about Religion”
  • Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
  • Sojourner Truth, “I Am a Woman’s Rights”
  • Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
  • Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic”
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”
  • Lou Gehrig, “Farewell to Baseball”
  • Langston Hughes, “On the Blacklist All Our Lives”
  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “We Choose to Go to the Moon”
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”
  • Fannie Lou Hamer, “I Question America”
  • Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, 1984
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”

Strong Voices includes a foreword by #1 New York Times bestselling author and celebrated journalist Cokie Roberts, as well as a timeline in the back of the book, along with letters to the reader from Tonya Bolden and Eric Velasquez.

Strong Voices is a tremendous introduction to the extraordinary words spoken in history.


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