I Could Do That!

Based on the Booklist “Editor's Choice” 2005 children's picture book winsomely written by Linda Arms White and beautifully illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, the iconographic-animated I Could Do That! presents the inspiring true story of Esther Morris, a 19th-century can-do powerhouse of a woman who raised a family in the Wyoming territories, where she was not only instrumental in gaining the vote for women (for the first time in the U.S.), but went to the voting polls in 1870 as the Justice of the Peace (becoming the first female judge and first woman to hold political office). Whether making tea as a child, knitting as a teenager, or stumping for the suffragette vote, Esther Morris believed she “could do that”—whatever the challenge might be—and that “things that were not likely to happen happened every day.” Narrated by actress Joan Allen, and backed by a light yet jaunty soundtrack by David Mansfield, this biographical paean to self-confidence, determination, and working toward improving the lot of fellow humans (in addition to her political career, Morris was also sympathetic to the abolitionist cause—her son fought on the Union side during the Civil War) is definitely recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)