A Time for Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington, D.C., 1917 (Dear America)

Rating:
Summary: A Great Historical Book!!!!!
Review: "A Time for Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington, D.C., 1917" is one of the top Dear America books. The topic of The Women's Suffrage hardly ever written about in historical fictions, this book brings this time in history to life. With jammed pack action, detailed scenes, and endless historical figures, you'll finish this book in no time! A must read for Dear America fans. I recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Another good Dear America
Review: As War rages on in Europe in 1917 Kathleen "Cat" Bowen knows there is another big fight to finish at home. Her mother, sister, aunt, and many other women around her have all become suffragists to the disapproval of many men including Cat's uncle and her father. Cat and her cousin Alma want to join the picket lines but they are too young. The excitement builds as the picket lines have lasted more than a week and it seems there might be hope in the horizon! News reaches far out of the picket lines in Washington D.C. and many women from all over the United States have come to participate in the fight for the right to vote. On the homefront as the United States gets ready for war Cat sees the changes at home too as women take a much more active role in the society such as her cousin Alma who helps with the Red Cross over in Europe after running away from home and her problems . However Cat suffers a blow with the unexpected arrest of her mother. Can Cat survive more things to come?

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I have read many books in the dear America series and this one is one of my favorites. I liked it because in addition to being well written it's also exciting. Not only does Kathleen Bowen's mother Join the picket line and get arrested, but America also joins the first World War. Kathleen's sister and cousin leave to become nurses in Europe on the front. So not only was the book fun to read, but I also learned a lot about the suffrage movement.

Rating:
Summary: Truly the best of the Dear America books!
Review: I'm usually one to say that the newest Dear America book is the best but after I have re-read all of them and read the newest ones that just came out-I'd have to say that this was the best one. Kathleen is a teenage girl whose world has suddenly fallen into WWI. She lives in the constent fear that her father will have to go to war, that she will never see her cousin again, and that her mother will be arrested for picketing outside the White House and other landmarks for the women's right to vote. Kathleen attends a private ladies' school, with her cousin, until she has to leave for her grandmother's, whom she dislikes. In the dead of the night, her cousin escapes and runs off to France to be a nurse. Now, Kathleen has lost her best friend. However, she still has her other school friends, who make fun of one girl who has a German last name and ask if she plans to change it. In the midst of her own troubles, women are starting to be arrested from the pickets and even he rmom lands in an infamous jail. She and her family visit their beloved mother but Kathleen become svery upset when she learns that her mother can't make the school award show. However, Kathleen gets a surprise. This is truly a good book and anyone who likes Dear America books or historical fiction should read this. Out of all of Kathryn Lasky's Dear America and Royal Diaries, this one has got to be the best!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful new Dear America book.
Review: It's 1917 in Washington, D.C, and as the Great War rages in Europe, thirteen-year-old Kathleen Bowen is caught up in a fight closer to home. Her mother, sister Nell, and Auntie Claire are suffragists, fighting for voting rights for women, to the disapproval of her Uncle Bayard and the worry of her father. Kat and her cousin Alma, who are the exact same age, want to help, but they are too young to join the picket line. As it begins to seem more and more likely that the United States will enter the war, life begins to change in other ways. Nell leaves to join the Women's Ambulance Corps in France, and Alma, desperate to escape after her parents' bitter divorce, runs away to England and becomes a Red Cross volunteer. But the worst hardship of all is still to come. Kat's mother is arrested, and Kat wonders how she will ever make it through this unbearable loneliness. I highly recommend this book to all fans of the Dear America series.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Kathleen Bowen is a thirteen-year-old Washington D.C. resident whose mother, aunt and sister are caught up in the suffrage movement while the country becomes embroiled in World War I. The movement nearly tears her family apart when her uncle kidnaps his kids and leaves his wife. Then Kathleen�s mother is thrown in prison and forced to languish in horrid conditions on a trumped up charge while peacefully picketing the White House. Meanwhile her sister and her cousin run off to Europe to join the war effort. This is women�s coming of age as seen through the eyes of a young girl.

A school history textbook has only so much space in which to present an event often trivializing them. A book like this written in the first person, albeit by a fictional character, makes a much greater impact on the reader because it easily removes their sense of disbelief and immerses them in the action.

A Time For Courage also contains an Epilogue that continues characters� lives after the story ends, a Historical Note about the time period with photos of those involved in the suffrage movement and a Timeline of Women in Politics. This is an excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: Turbulent Times Rendered Realistically
Review: Kathleen Bowen is a thirteen-year-old Washington D.C. resident whose mother, aunt and sister are caught up in the suffrage movement while the country becomes embroiled in World War I. The movement nearly tears her family apart when her uncle kidnaps his kids and leaves his wife. Then Kathleen's mother is thrown in prison and forced to languish in horrid conditions on a trumped up charge while peacefully picketing the White House. Meanwhile her sister and her cousin run off to Europe to join the war effort. This is women's coming of age as seen through the eyes of a young girl.

A school history textbook has only so much space in which to present an event often trivializing them. A book like this written in the first person, albeit by a fictional character, makes a much greater impact on the reader because it easily removes their sense of disbelief and immerses them in the action.

A Time For Courage also contains an Epilogue that continues characters' lives after the story ends, a Historical Note about the time period with photos of those involved in the suffrage movement and a Timeline of Women in Politics. This is an excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: Another Good "Dear America"
Review: The title of my review pretty much says how I feel about it. "A Time For Courage" was the story of Kathleen (Kat) Bowen, whose mother's suffrage activities around the time of WW1 change her entire family's life. Once again, we see the era through the eyes of a fairly normal girl, yet we glean a rich knowledge of the time when we read this diary. Kat was well characterized in her diary, and Katherine Lasky once again writes an interesting story and lets us see how the suffrage movement really was. It's hard to explain...but somehow this book just wasn't one of my favorite "Dear Americas". It just didn't totally "grab" me and I just didn't totally LOVE it...like I did with "Dreams In The Golden Country" and "A Coal Miner's Bride" (other "Dear Americas" that every human alive should read!!!!). Still, don't miss this book...it is engaging, well written, and has a good main character...it just isn't QUITE my favorite or a five-star read.

Rating:
Summary: Time for Courage
Review: This is not a half bad addition to the ever growing Dear America Series. I just don't think that it it the best out there. Kat's story is pretty interesting though, and I actually learned a lot of things from reading her "diary."

Over the course of a year, Kat's diary is a window into the happenings of the suffragette movement in Washington, D.C., of which Kat's mother is a part of. At first, Kat is pleased to have so many "exciting" things taking place right in her own neighborhood. Eventually though, she begins to feel left behind when her mother becomes more and more dedicated to the suffragette movement, her sister Nell gets swept away by her own plans, and, perhaps most of all, when Kat's best friend Alma is taken away.

The historical accuracy of this book is mainly what made the story so interesting to me. If I had ever read about the way women suffragettes were treated, I'd forgotten all but the basics, and was really interested by the things that happen. Kat's voice is clear, but her story seems a little flat, bolstered a great deal by the story of the suffragettes.

If you've liked other books in the Dear America series, or are interested in getting a better picture of the struggle that went on before women were allowed the right to vote, you'll definitely like this book, as I did. I just didn't feel that it was quite as good as some of the other Dear America books that I have read in the past.