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Summary
Summary
Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass chat over tea about their efforts to win rights for women and African Americans.Some people had rights, while others had none.Why shouldn't they have them, too?Two friends, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, get together for tea and conversation. They recount their similar stories fighting to win rights for women and African Americans. The premise of this particular exchange between the two is based on a statue in their hometown of Rochester, New York, which shows the two friends having tea.The text by award-winning writer Dean Robbins teaches about the fight for women's and African Americans' rights in an accessible, engaging manner for young children. Two Friends is beautifully illustrated by Selina Alko and Sean Qualls, the husband-and-wife team whose The Case for Loving received three starred reviews! Two Friends includes back matter with photos of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.
Author Notes
Selina Alko has always been curious about different people and cultures, which stems, in part, from growing up with a Canadian mother and a Turkish father, who spoke seven languages and taught her to paint. Her art brims with optimism, experimentation, and a deep commitment to multiculturalism and human rights. She is the author of The Case for Loving , which she illustrated with her husband, Sean Qualls, and the co-illustrator, also with Sean, of Two Friends by Dean Robbins. She has written and illustrated several other acclaimed picture books, including Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama and B Is for Brooklyn . She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Learn more at selinaalko.com.
Sean Qualls finds inspiration everywhere, from old buildings, nature, fairy tales, black memorabilia, and outsider art to cave paintings, African imagery, mythology, music, and his native Brooklyn. He is the co-illustrator, with his wife, Selina Alko, of the celebrated picture books Two Friends by Dean Robbins and The Case for Loving by Selina Alko. Other acclaimed picture books he has illustrated include Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Little Cloud and Lady Wind by Toni Morrison and her son Slade, Dizzy by Jonah Winter, and Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family. Visit him online at seanqualls.com.
Dean Robbins is a journalist and the author of the children's picture books Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass , Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing , and Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote . His award-winning books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and have been praised in the New York Times and USA Today . Dean grew up idolizing Apollo astronauts and loved working with Alan Bean on The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon . Learn more at deanrobbins.net.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Robbins imagines the meeting between Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass at Anthony's house over tea. Both were champions of freedom and voting rights-Anthony for women and Douglass for African Americans. Emphasizing the commonality between these two famous Americans, the author effectively uses parallel phrasing: "Some people liked [his/her] ideas about rights... Others didn't." A note mentions that Anthony and Douglass spoke out for each other's causes. Husband-and-wife team Qualls and Alko's beautiful illustrations are rendered in acrylic and gouache, and the two used collages of cutout strips with ink writing, giving the book an 18th-century look. VERDICT Readers will come away remembering a brief episode in history that demonstrates that cooperation can be found in unexpected places.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Robbins's debut introduces two mutually supportive U.S. civil rights activists, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. After Douglass drives his horse-drawn wagon down a snowy street, the subsequent spread of a room aglow in warm candlelight shows the two friends facing each other, teacups in hand. Short, parallel biographies of these 19th-century crusaders comprise most of the narrative; each "read about rights in the United States. The right to live free. The right to vote. Some people had rights, while others had none." The husband-and-wife team of Qualls and Alko (The Case for Loving) uses paint, colored pencil, and collage to create symbolic illustrations with a folk-art feel. Flowery script is woven cleverly into the pages: steam from teacups, Anthony's ahead-of-her-time bloomers, and even sidewalks are filled with words and ideas endemic in their campaigns ( "Right is of no gender... is of no color"). An author's note and bibliography conclude a visually appealing primer on these civil rights reformers. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Two cups of tea for two powerful advocates for equal rights. The setting is genteel as the titular two good friends sip afternoon tea by the soft glow of candlelight. But wait! She is wearing bloomersoutrageous garb for a woman in the 19th centuryand he is carrying a booknot an expected accoutrement for a black man. She is Susan B. Anthony, who campaigned for women's rights, and he is Frederick Douglass, who spoke vehemently and eloquently for equal rights for people of all colors. The two were friends, and in his imagined scenario, Robbins deftly moves between her objectives and words to those of Douglass. He gives a basic introduction to what society expected of women and how African-Americans were denied rights. The husband-and-wife illustrator team uses paint, collage, and colored pencils in scenes that vary from tea-table serenity to tableaux of public speaking with hecklers in the foreground. Some of the double-page-spread scenes are fanciful, but all show determination. The full-bleed artwork is embellished with swirls of script from their respective writings, a plus for both artistic presentation and content. Young readers can picture two people of action and resolve and hopefully be equally inspired. (author's note, bibliography, photographs) (Picture book/biography. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Some people had rights, while others had none. Why shouldn't they have them, too? This simple phrase captures the efforts of two of America's greatest figures of social change: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. In remarkably economic prose, Robbins reveals the similarities in their childhoods and demonstrates the enormous impact these friends had on history as they worked tirelessly toward their goals of securing fundamental rights for women and slaves. The importance of loyal friendship is a prominent theme throughout the book Anthony and Douglass sit together in a cozy room, enjoying tea and cake, listening to each other's ideas, and supporting the other's cause. The mixed-media illustrations, composed of acrylics, colored pencil, and collage, are rendered in a loose, highly stylized manner. Bold colors lend an upbeat feel to the illustrations, while layers of paint and mixed media create subtle texture and depth. An author's note expands the concepts presented in the narrative and frames the story in its historical context. Also included is a short bibliography and photographs of the two pivotal figures.--Hayes, Summer Copyright 2015 Booklist
