Taxing Case of the Cows

October 1, 2010
At last—an engaging story that brings alive the term "women's suffrage" to young readers. Most titles on the subject take a purely expository stance, with grainy photographs of women in bustles, sashes and outrageous hats. Here, a clear story unfolds as Abby and Julia Smith fight the all-male city leaders of 1869 Glastonbury, Conn., when they levy a special tax on single female landowners. Their battle cry? "No Taxation without Representation!" With spunky determination, these septuagenarian sisters enter a lengthy public legal battle that finds them excluded from speaking in town meetings—so Abby shouts from an ox cart on the city green. The Smith's poor cows are dragged to and fro over the years as the tax man takes them to auction from which the Smiths buy them back for the price of their tax bill. Abby's angry and stern face, however well justified, may lead readers to feel more sympathy for the cows than for her. But well-behaved women rarely make history, as this sparkling account attests. (authors' note, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010

Gr 1-3-Starting in 1869, two sisters from Glastonbury, CT, protested against taxation without representation. Female property owners were not allowed to vote or speak in town meetings, yet were taxed at a higher rate than their male counterparts. When Abby and Julia Smith refused to pay, their prized cows were seized. The story about these smart and resourceful women is laced with humor as the cows go back and forth, but after a while, the account loses focus. The dramatic tension fizzles when the text becomes more a series of episodes from the sisters' lives than a sharp, cohesive narrative. The concept of taxation is not explained so children may need some background to understand the ongoing conflict. The watercolor illustrations are in McCully's signature style, but the execution is somewhat looser than in her earlier work. There is a sketchy, unfinished quality to some of the pictures, and the cow parts do not always add up to whole animals. The spreads work well, but the single-page illustrations and insets do not flow easily, giving the book a static quality.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2010
Grades 1-3 This title introduces the little-known story of two elderly sisters, Abby and Julia Smith, who fought against the taxation levied upon them as nonvoting citizens in nineteenth-century Connecticut. Their argument, that taxation without representation was just what Americans had revolted against one hundred years earlier, won them many supporters in their community and, eventually, the nation, but it barely affected their lawsuits with city fathers. The sisters beloved cows became pawns in the arguments, used as collateral and bargaining chips by both sides. The long texts straightforward language, which includes the specific arithmetic of the conflict, may require some dramatic read-alouds to help draw children into the story. Caldecott Medalist McCullys watercolor illustrations of the historical scenes enhance this account of a pivotal event in womens long struggle for equality, which will be particularly welcome in an educational setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2011
Faced with an unjust new tax -- a higher rate levied on land held by spinsters in the town of Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1869 -- sisters Julia and Abby Smith protested: since they couldn't vote, this was taxation without representation, against which their ancestors had fought in the Revolution. At first the Smiths argued but paid up, but after Abby was denied the right to speak in town meeting, they withheld the tax. Their cows were then confiscated and auctioned off; friendly neighbors enabled them to buy them back. Undeterred, the town sold fifteen ancestral acres, an illegal action soon reversed. Still, year after year, 'the cows tramped back and forth to auction' while the American Woman Suffrage Association, as well as newspapers nationwide, took up the story. 'The sisters eventually won their case' (presumably the tax was repealed, though the authors don't say); meanwhile, they'd dramatized the injustice of denying women the vote. McCully is right at home in nineteenth-century America, and if her aging sisters are almost stereotypically wrinkled and gaunt, her cows have a humorous vivacity recalling Peter Spier. It all adds up to an appealing sample of the resourcefulness of women faced with the bullheadedness of some men, nicely underlined by an afterword pointing out the many other extraordinary accomplishments of the well-educated Smith siblings -- Julia and Abby plus three other sisters. Sources include one by Julia Smith herself. JOANNA RUDGE LONG

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2011
Faced with an unjust new tax, Julia and Abby Smith protested: since they couldn't vote, this was taxation without representation. After the sisters cows are confiscated, the American Woman Suffrage Association, as well as newspapers nationwide, took up the story. Van Rynbach and Shea appealingly present the resourcefulness of two nineteenth-century women. McCullys illustrations show the aging sisters and their humorously vivacious cows.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

October 1, 2010
At last--an engaging story that brings alive the term "women's suffrage" to young readers. Most titles on the subject take a purely expository stance, with grainy photographs of women in bustles, sashes and outrageous hats. Here, a clear story unfolds as Abby and Julia Smith fight the all-male city leaders of 1869 Glastonbury, Conn., when they levy a special tax on single female landowners. Their battle cry? "No Taxation without Representation!" With spunky determination, these septuagenarian sisters enter a lengthy public legal battle that finds them excluded from speaking in town meetings--so Abby shouts from an ox cart on the city green. The Smith's poor cows are dragged to and fro over the years as the tax man takes them to auction from which the Smiths buy them back for the price of their tax bill. Abby's angry and stern face, however well justified, may lead readers to feel more sympathy for the cows than for her. But well-behaved women rarely make history, as this sparkling account attests. (authors' note, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)