Louisine Lights a Legacy: How Louisine Havemeyer Fired Up America’s Woman Suffrage

Gr 2-5–Louisine Havemeyer was an art collector and suffragist. This picture book biography focuses on her later in life work for women’s suffrage as a public speaker and fundraiser. The book has a nonlinear structure that opens with her intentional arrest at a protest in order to participate in the Prison Special speaking tour. The story jumps back and forth to these events, which make it difficult to follow at times. The illustrations are sketchlike with a limited palette of green and purple for the colors of the suffrage movement. The illustrations may not fully capture Havemeyer’s impact. For example, one illustration of Havemeyer shaking hands with a police officer is modeled on a real photograph but repositions the characters in a way that changes the powerful facial expressions and body language from the original. The back matter highlights more suffragists—particularly people of color—but is missing a bibliography for readers who want to know more about Havemeyer or these other leaders.