Synopses & Reviews
Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Iandgt;"Papa, Mama, can I go too?"andlt;/Iandgt; andlt;BRandgt; My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away -- a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mouse. How could she make the trip? And girls didn't really need school. But I got to thinking: Virgie was free like we were. Free to learn. And didn't girls need to know how to write and add too? Mama and Papa thought so. And one summer, they decided to do something about it. andlt;BRandgt; That was the year Virgie came to school with us boys. And she sure showed us!
Synopsis
Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys.
"Papa, Mama, can I go too?"
My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away -- a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mouse. How could she make the trip? And girls didn't really need school. But I got to thinking: Virgie was free like we were. Free to learn. And didn't girls need to know how to write and add too? Mama and Papa thought so. And one summer, they decided to do something about it.
That was the year Virgie came to school with us boys. And she sure showed us
Synopsis
This luminous and energetic picture book follows a young boy who takes his younger sister on her first trip to school in the Reconstruction-era South. "Papa, Mama, can I go too?"
Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys. My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away--a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mouse. How could she make the trip? And girls didn't really need school.
But I got to thinking: Virgie was free like we were. Free to learn. And didn't girls need to know how to write and add, too? Mama and Papa thought so. And one summer, they decided to do something about it. That was the year Virgie came to school with us boys. And she sure showed us
Synopsis
All Virgie wants to do is go to school with her five older brothers, who think she's too small and that girls don't need an education. Based on the lives of the author's ancestors, this story is captured in colorful artwork by Coretta Scott King honoree E.B. Lewis.
About the Author
andlt;Bandgt;Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard'sandlt;/Bandgt; grandfather was Cornelius "C.C." Fitzgerald. His brother Will told stories about their childhood to his daughter Jessie, who passed them along to the author. Inspired by these stories, Elizabeth visited Jonesborough, Tennessee, a town seven miles from where her grandfather grew up. There she learned about a school started by Quakers called the Warner Institute and wrote this story.