Around America to Win the Vote

Women’s efforts to secure the right to vote took many years of struggle, determination, and political savvy that ultimately resulted in the adoption of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. Narrated by Marge Sudheimer, this iconographic-animated adaptation of the true-story-based 2016 picture book Around America to Win the Vote: Two Suffragists, a Kitten, and 10,000 Miles, written by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Hadley Hooper, follows suffragists Nell Richardson and Alice Burke as they leave New York City and drive around the country in a small yellow car named the "Golden Flyer," stopping in towns to give speeches and spread the message of "Votes for Women." Using rudimentary maps and directions, the ladies followed the perimeter states around the country, encountering rough unpaved roads, rain, mud, desert heat, and even a blizzard along the way, before making it safely back to New York City for an exuberant celebration. Lively music and sound effects of the car’s motor and boisterous animals help enliven the story, which concludes with the narrator reading historical and source notes from the book that provide a brief history of women’s long road to winning the right to vote. With the centennial for the passage of the 19th amendment coming in 2020, this timely and informative film—which includes a read-along option—is recommended. Aud: E, P. (T. Root)