Synopses & Reviews
The founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette (Daisy) Gordon Low, was a quirky, remarkable woman with ideas that were ahead of her time. A sensitive child, she grew up in Savannah, Georgia, where she developed what was to become a lifetime interest in the arts. As a young woman, Daisy suffered from chronic ear infections and lost most of her hearing in one ear. She lost hearing in her other ear after a grain of rice lodged inside it at her wedding, puncturing her eardrum.
Daisy's life spanned an important era in U.S. history, and her story is chock full of curriculum connections, from the Civil War and reconstruction (her mother was a northerner who believed in abolition, her father was a Confederate soldier), to westward expansion and Native American studies, women's studies and early feminism, and later, World War I. She made her own valuable contribution to history by founding the first national organization that brought girls from all backgrounds into the out-of-doors, giving them the opportunity to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness. She created controversy by encouraging girls to prepare not only for traditional homemaking, but also for possible future roles as professional womenin the arts, sciences, and businessand for active citizenship outside the home. Girl Scouting also welcomed girls with disabilities at a time when they were excluded from many activities and groups.
Review
Here's the stuff movies are made of: Clara Wieck gave her first piano recital at age nine in Leipzig in 1828. It was the beginning of a lifetime of concert tours across Europe to wild adulation. Her father was autocratic enough to cause her mother to divorce him in an age when women had no rights in a separation, and Clara had to sue him to get permission to marry and to get back some of the fortune she had earned. Clara's husband, composer Robert Schumann, was a pupil of Wieck's: Robert's depression led to his death in an asylum, but he fathered eight children with Clara, and she played and delighted in his music all her life. Goethe praised Clara when she was 12; as an adult she was close to Liszt and Mendelssohn, and a friend and inspiration to the young Brahms. Many illustrations bring life to this account, which is based in part on the life long research and writing on Clara Schumann done by Nancy B. Reich (the author's mother). A full, colorful, biography of a fascinating artist.
August 1999
Review
"Anyone interested in music history or in women's history will find a compelling story here."
Review
"Anyone interested in music history or in women's history will find a compelling story here." Kirkus Reviews
Here's the stuff movies are made of: Clara Wieck gave her first piano recital at age nine in Leipzig in 1828. It was the beginning of a lifetime of concert tours across Europe to wild adulation. Her father was autocratic enough to cause her mother to divorce him in an age when women had no rights in a separation, and Clara had to sue him to get permission to marry and to get back some of the fortune she had earned. Clara's husband, composer Robert Schumann, was a pupil of Wieck's: Robert's depression led to his death in an asylum, but he fathered eight children with Clara, and she played and delighted in his music all her life. Goethe praised Clara when she was 12; as an adult she was close to Liszt and Mendelssohn, and a friend and inspiration to the young Brahms. Many illustrations bring life to this account, which is based in part on the life long research and writing on Clara Schumann done by Nancy B. Reich (the author's mother). A full, colorful, biography of a fascinating artist.
August 1999 Booklist, ALA
Although Reich is careful to view the remarkable musician Clara Schumann in her own time, modern-day readers will take her extraordinary story and think about it from a late-twentieth-century perspective. Psychoanalysts will have much to say about her temperamental, demanding father; feminists will speak about a woman who dared to perform in public a week before the birth of her child; family therapists will marvel at a woman whose mentally ill husband left her as the sole provider for her seven surviving children. Reich never lets us forget that Clara Schumann is a talented woman in a world dominated by men, relating how the director of a leading music conservatory in Frankfurt wrote that no woman would ever be employed there, except for Clara: "As for Madame Schumann, I count her as a man." This heavily researched book draws on primary sources, both Clara's own diaries and her voluminous correspondence with her husband (more comfortable writing than speaking to each other, she and her husband maintained a joint diary) and other musicians of the times. Few of us are aware that Clara Schumann's better-known husband, composer Robert Schumann, owes much of his fame to his wife's persistence in including his compositions in her legendary piano performances and to her dogged efforts to make his music part of the public domain. Reich's lucid, quietly passionate biography, liberally illustrated with photographs and reproductions, ensures that Clara Schumann's remarkable life and achievements stand on their own.
Horn Book
Review
"Wadsworth captures Lowand#8217;s stubborn but charismatic spirit by blending facts and humorous sketches in this winning biography of a woman whose visions and ideas have helped shape the lives of girls around the world." --Horn Book
"Unvarnished prose, plentiful images and vivid anecdotes set in historical perspective make this chronological account lively and accessible for middle-grade readers." --Kirkus Reviews
"The attractive book design features chapter headings that look like Girl Scout badges, and most spreads include period photos or reproductions of primary-source documents. Exemplary nonfiction." --School Library Journal
"In time for the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) comes this engaging biography about the woman who founded the organization." --Booklist "2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA, and a fresh, comprehensive biography of founder Juliette Gordon Low is most welcome." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Synopsis
A piano prodigy, Clara Schumann made her professional debut at the age of nine and had embarked on her first European concert tour by the time she was twelve. Clara charmed audiences with her soulful playing throughout her life. Music was a constant source of inspiration and support for this strong and resilient woman. After the death of her husband, Robert Schumann, Clara continued her brilliant career and supported their eight children. Clara Schumann's extraordinary story is supplemented with her letters and diary entries, some of which have never before been published in English. Gorgeous portraits and photographs show the members of Clara's famous musical community and Clara herself from age eight to seventy-six. Index, chronology.
Synopsis
Thisand#160;lavishly illustrated account of the fascinating life of the woman who started it all.Juliette (Daisy) Gordon Low was a remarkable woman with ideas that were ahead of her time. She witnessed important eras in U.S. history, from the Civil War and Reconstruction to westward expansion to postandndash;World War I. And she made history by founding the first national organization to bring girls from all backgrounds into the out-of-doors. Daisy created controversy by encouraging them to prepare not only for traditional homemaking but also for roles as professional womenandmdash;in the arts, sciences, and businessandmdash;and for active citizenship outside the home. Her group also welcomed girls with disabilities at a time when they were usually excluded. Includes authorandrsquo;s note, source notes, bibliography, timeline, places to visit, the Girl Scout Promise and Law, and musical notation for the favorite scout song andldquo;Make New Friends.andrdquo;
About the Author
Ginger Wadsworth is the author of many nonfiction titles for young readers, including, for Clarion, Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers, which was named a nonfiction Honor Book by VOYA and received the Western Writers of America Spur Award. She lives in Orinda, California. You can learn more about her at: www.gingerwadsworth.com