School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-9‘This biography relates Barton's accomplishments, making it clear how extraordinary her activities were for a woman of her time. Whitelaw makes use of her subject's original diaries from the Library of Congress, along with her published work. The chapters consist of easy, short sentences, lots of footnotes, and some direct quotes. Occasionally a box offers interesting incidental information. The black-and-white photographs and drawings are sharp with good contrast. A short glossary, a barely adequate index, and a list of books for further reading are included. Leni Hamilton's Clara Barton (Chelsea House, 1987) devotes more space to the Civil War, but the sources aren't documented. Rafael Tilton's The Importance of Clara Barton (Lucent, 1995) incorporates the most original quotes from published sources both in the text and in sidebars. Both have more complicated sentence structure and more illustrations than Whitelaw's title. A curious side note‘all three books use the same picture on the cover.‘Martha Gordon, formerly at South Salem Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.