Mary McLeod Bethune: African-American Educator

Children's Literature

Mary was the 15th out of 17 children born to parents who had been enslaved. When she was 10, her parents were able to send her to a Mission School that instilled a love of learning. Mary faced many adversities in her life, but always used her faith and knowledge to overcome them. Mary believed that education was the way to provide a better life for African-Americans. Throughout the book, the author has thoughtfully included many "Interesting Facts" sections. There is also a Timeline, Glossary, and a Further Information page that has books, Web sites, and addresses if the reader is interested in getting more facts. Every word found in the glossary has been highlighted in the text. This 32-page book is packed full of interesting information and the black-and-white photographs are amazing. What a great book to read just for pleasure and for students to use as a reference book. The book is part of the "Our People" series. 2004, The Child's World, Ages 9 to 12.
— Kathie Josephs

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Common to these titles are brief, but not particularly easy, texts with large, clear type in a cleanly designed format. Relevant facts are scattered throughout the wide margins along with a few full-page sidebars that provide related historical background. In addition, these books include addresses of places to visit or contact, and, in place of a Web site list of possibly dated URLs, the publisher provides a link to its own site that, presumably, will be updated in a timely manner. (This link also takes one to the publisher's online sales catalog.) The photos and reproductions that appear on every page are well chosen and clear. These slim titles also might be suitable for reluctant readers. One wonders, though, about the criteria for the brief glossaries when in Tubman, for example, the words "capture" and "courage" are included but "prophet" and "disguising" are not.-Sue Sherif, Alaska State Library, Anchorage Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.