This book gives a thorough overview of Harriet Tubman's life from birth to death. It's a perfect book for the target audience to understand more about what motivated Tubman and why she is still talked about today.

This was a really interesting take on Harriet Tubman. I think my students will enjoy reading this as much as Who Was?. I am definitely going to purchase it for my school library, along with the others in the series.

Back in 2017, Chelsea Clinton wrote a picture book called She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World. That concept first inspired two more picture books and has now been expanded into a series of chapter books, with one for each of the 13 women featured in the original picture book. While Clinton has lent her name to the overall series, she is not the author of these chapter books. Instead, 13 female authors have each written one of the books and very importantly, Black female authors have been brought aboard the project to write the books about Black figures.

I read three of the first books from the series to be released: Harriett Tubman, Claudette Colvin, and Sally Ride. While I was familiar with Tubman and her involvement with the Underground Railroad, I knew little about her life and found this book to be a fantastic primer that is perfect for upper elementary/lower middle grade readers. While a book aimed at this age range naturally skirts around most of the more horrifying elements of a story rooted in slavery, it also doesn’t gloss over them and makes it clear how awful life was for Tubman and other enslaved people.

Claudette Colvin was a name I was far less familiar with, having only ever heard the name in passing. Again, I found this book to be an excellent primer that gave me a thorough grounding in Colvin’s life story and her importance to the US civil rights movement, including her connections to names I was more familiar with like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. The book made me immediately want to go out and learn more about Colvin and discover why her name isn’t nearly as well known as some of her contemporaries.

Finally, I read the Sally Ride book. Ride is another figure with whom I was familiar but I knew very little about her life outside of NASA. This book explored her childhood and the years she spent training to play tennis as well as her NASA career which gave me a more detailed understanding of her as a whole person. I was also pleased to see that the book didn’t shy away from acknowledging her long-term same-sex partner later in her life.

At the end of each book is a short section titled “How You Can Persist”. These sections list practical ideas for helping you to honor the subject of that book. In Tubman’s book, the ideas including helping a lost person find their way, making a wish on the North Star, and listening to a traditional spiritual from her era, and thinking about how it inspires you. Colvin’s book suggests learning about your rights, reading the US Constitution, and researching others working to bring about positive changes in the world, while Ride’s suggestions include reading one of her books, stargazing to spot her favorite constellation, and helping take care of the planet. These sections are followed by a list of references including books and websites that will be ideal for those wanting to learn more or for kids studying for school projects.

This is an excellent series so far and one I know I’ll be continuing to read throughout the year as further books are released. I also hope we will eventually see future volumes based on Clinton’s other She Persisted picture books.

This is what I would call a WOW book! I am always looking for great biographical novels for the early chapter book readers. This was the perfect book! Pinkney gives the right amount of information without being overwhelming. There is plenty of white space on the pages and the illustrations sprinkled throughout the story are perfect for those readers who are beginning their adventure into chapter books. I will be purchasing several copies for our library. I hope the She Persisted series continues in this same direction.

She Persisted: Harriet Tubman (She Persisted) by Andrea Davis Pinkney strives for a fine balance between accurate information, accessibility and interest. Pinkney’s explanation of what slavery is clear but dignified and her narrative is exciting while staying close to the facts. When discussing slavery, it is made clear that slavery involved people that were enslaved and they are called people, not slaves. There is no fictionalized dialogue in this biography which makes it drier but more truthful. The emotional quality of the narrative comes from the descriptive adjectives and the excitement from the actual story. As a chapter book aimed at an early elementary school age audience, this title will be most successful for very proficient readers or as a read aloud. With six short chapters it would work as a read aloud! “How You Can Persist” includes six activities for young people can honor Harriet Tubman’s memory. Also included is a bibliography including both print and online sources that are appropriate for young people.

She Persisted: Harriet Tubman is a biography that convinces the reader to develop their grit and determination, and in doing so perhaps one day accomplish as much as Harriet Tubman accomplished. Andrea Davis Pinkney’s unflinching depictions of the challenges Tubman faced and narrative’s focus on her persistence make She Persisted: Harriet Tubman a page turning biography.