What every girl should know :

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Title :

What every girl should know : Margaret Sanger's journey : a novel / by J. Albert Mann.

Title:

What every girl should know :

Author:

Mann, Jennifer Ann

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

228 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781534419322

9781534419339

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Atheneum, [2019]

Summary:

In this fictionalized biography, a teenage Maggie Higgins struggles to balance her responsibilities to her family, society's expectations for women, and her desire to pursue her education and plan for the future.

Struggling to find her way amidst the harsh realities of poverty, Margaret didn't want to become either a teacher or a mother-- which seemed to be a woman's only options. Feisty and opinionated, Margaret Higgins Sanger witnessed and experienced incredible hardships, which led to her groundbreaking work as an advocate for women's rights and the founder of Planned Parenthood. -- adapted from jacket

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Language:

English

Genre:

Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787

Juvenile works. (OCoLC)fst01411637

Biographical fiction.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Biographical.

Geographic Term:

New York (State) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.

Personal Subject:

Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966-Childhood and youth-Juvenile fiction.

Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966-Childhood and youth-Fiction.

Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966. (OCoLC)fst00006408

Subject Term:

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Family life -- New York (State) -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Sex role -- Fiction.

Schools. (OCoLC)fst01107958

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Biographical.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Girls & Women.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2020	31330008935888	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2020	31330008943254	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2020	31330008943262	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2020	31330008943270	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2020	31330008943288	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	YA/MANN J	31479006986946	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	MG F MANN	31990004780925	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

This compelling historical novel spans the early and very formative years of feminist and women's health activist Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, as she struggles to find her way amidst the harsh realities of poverty.

Margaret was determined to get out. She didn't want to clean the dirty dishes and soiled diapers that piled up day in and day out in her large family's small home. She didn't want to disappoint her ailing mother, who cared tirelessly for an ever-growing number of children despite her incessant cough. And Margaret certainly didn't want to be labeled a girl of "promise," destined to become either a teacher or a mother--which seemed to be a woman's only options.

As a feisty and opinionated young woman, Margaret Higgins Sanger witnessed and experienced incredible hardships, which led to her groundbreaking work as an advocate for women's rights and the founder of Planned Parenthood. This fiery novel of Margaret's early life paints the portrait of a young woman with the passion and courage to change the world.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up-Margaret Louise Higgens Sanger grew up in the ash covered factory town of Corning, New York, in the late 1800s. This is the story of her daily life in that town and her determination to escape it. The home was bursting at the seams with brothers and sisters. The Sanger family experienced many hardships that were all too familiar for so many families during that time period. Her mother seemed to be perpetually with child, many of which were stillborns, and her father's radical thinking kept him frequently out of work. Margaret rarely had a moment to herself free of dishes, laundry, or taking care of her younger siblings. She knew that her fate as a young woman of the 19th century was to get married and have a family or to become a teacher. Neither of those options were acceptable for her. She wanted more. Each chapter of this compelling historical novel is poignant and meaningful. The book reads as journal entries, with each chapter telling a new story that contributes to the full narrative of Margaret's early life. A historical note at the end of the novel discloses the complicated fact that Margret Sanger was a eugenicist, someone who believed in sterilization of the the "mentally unfit," a widely held viewpoint at the time. The note also debunks the myth that Sanger was promoting sterilization based on race alone. Readers will not only be captivated by the storytelling but they will also gain a historical perspective that will shed light on why Margaret Sanger became a champion for women's and reproductive rights. VERDICT A fascinating biographical novel about birth control activist and founder of what eventually became Planned Parenthood that belongs on most shelves.-Melissa Lambert, Trenton Public Schools, MI © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Mann's novel, based on the youth of women's health activist Margaret Higgins Sanger, explores the seeming futility of being an ambitious girl born into poverty in the late 19th century. The novel opens in 1899, as 20-year-old Maggie rushes home from an unwanted teaching job in New Jersey to her dying mother in Corning, N.Y., and closes a year later, as Maggie defiantly cuts her hair and leaves home permanently. In between those events, the book focuses on the grim details of Maggie's adolescence as one of 10 children of a consumptive Catholic mother and an outspoken, self-centered father who was an alcoholic and a socialist. Mann (Scar) convincingly depicts Maggie's fervent emotions as she struggles to be a dutiful daughter and sibling while trying to hold on to her dream of being a doctor, rather than the expected future of becoming a wife, mother, and, possibly, teacher. Mann creates a strong feminist character in her fictional portrayal of Sanger, but readers will likely need the context provided in the appended historical note to understand the importance of Sanger's early life in inspiring her lifelong fight for a woman's right to make decisions for her own body. Ages 14-up. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Maggie Higgins dreams of escaping the drudgery of the endless household duties that are a poor woman's lot in Corning, New York, in the late 1800s.Maggie is challenged by living with many siblings, her consumptive mother, and her freethinking, but somewhat shiftless, father. Inspired by the life of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, Mann (Scar, 2016, etc.) has created a sympathetic character in the rebellious Maggie. Most of the book's chapters move chronologically from the first introduction of 10-year-old Maggie in 1889 through her childhood, schooling, and departure for her new life as a nursing student in 1900. However, several chapters are set in 1899. The two timelines converge as Maggie copes with her mother's final illness and wrestles with her father's disapproval of her aspirations. Many of the most dramatic scenes are based in fact, as explained in the author's note, although more minor scenes and characters are fictional. Maggie's occasional thoughts ("I've almost never known my mother alone in her own body") make clear the seeds of Sanger's passion for family planning. The historical note provides additional information about her lifework and notably defends Sanger against the charges of racism that have been leveled against her in recent years. All characters are assumed white.An important, readable novel about Sanger, who changed the fate of millions of women through access to contraception. (historical note, author's note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 11-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Mann's fictional interpretation of the life of Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, offers a thoughtful, topical approach, making the agitator for women's rights an understandable young woman. Born into the seemingly ever-growing Higgins family in late nineteenth-century Corning, New York, Margaret watches as her frail mother's health (and the family's economic well-being) declines with the birth of every brother and sister. Margaret's older sisters believed her talents deserve nurturing, and they valiantly support her private education until their funds run out. The woman who coined the term birth control is painted as a girl of persistence and grit. While she is called home to help during her mother's final decline, she determines to rise above circumstances and pursue medicine. Mann does well in her portrayal of a family hard-pressed by poverty and sets up Margaret's struggle with her parents' choices so it reflects on the concerns she grappled with as an adult. Readers who enjoy historical fiction and are interested in the women's rights movement's origins will find this a sympathetic read.--Karen Cruze Copyright 2018 Booklist

Excerpts

What Every Girl Should Know March 1, 1899 I arrive on time for the earliest train with everything I own: a valise carrying two dresses, three pairs of knickers, a nightgown, and my silk gloves--all neatly folded and packed. My coat is buttoned to my chin to keep out the raw cold of early spring. My boots are laced up tightly. My hair is braided. My face is washed. Anyone witnessing my clipped stride as I enter Trenton Station would agree that I look like someone who is prepared to board a train. And I am prepared to board a train . . . I think. They say my mother is dying--again. I don't believe it. In truth I suspect I'm being rushed home to save my father from a sink full of dirty dishes. Although I understand his confusion: According to this world, a man confronted with the prospect of washing his own burnt saucepan is considered to be in quite dire circumstances. Either way, I have been summoned. I admit I don't regret having to leave my teaching job in New Jersey. It hadn't turned out as I'd expected. Or rather it turned out exactly as I'd expected, though I'd held out hope for the contrary. I wanted to believe that once inside the classroom, I'd discover the joy in educating children, as so many others had before me. But I didn't. The four walls of the classroom felt like a trap. The repetition of information, another trap. Unfortunately, what choice did I have but to teach? The same choice I now have to return home to clean the kitchen. Not only are women reduced to marry, maid, or schoolmarm, but men seem to be in control of which one we get to do at any moment. I make my way toward the platform, dodging fellow passengers while my ears are assaulted by the echo of gate announcements. Leaving is the right thing to do. Going home is the right thing to do. And so I am bound for Corning, New York. A whistle shrieks. My train appears as a silent flash of light, and I move to pick up my bag, dipping unsteadily since I'd never placed it down. The glint glows brighter and brighter, and is followed by a faint, far-off rumbling like a growing storm. The rumble grows into a roar, until it feels as if the massive engine barreling down on the station will drive straight through my ribs, slicing me in two. I close my eyes, welcoming the dissection . . . imagining half of me flung high up over the tracks and spinning off unfettered into the city's morning rush, while the other half, flattened and stiff, marches itself aboard the train. They truly only need half of me at home. In fact, they'd all be happier with half, as long as it is the half that cooks and cleans without complaint. But who am I fooling, there isn't the smallest piece of me able to do these things without complaint. I'm more afraid of that burnt saucepan than my father is. The platform shakes as my train thunders into the station, and though I plant my boots firmly on the platform, I can't stop my entire body from shaking with it. Car after car after car hurtles by. At last the metal wheels squeal to a stop, sounding like a giant tea kettle going off, and the deafening hiss of steam that I'd been anticipating, nevertheless sends my heart skidding. The doors rattle and then open with a disappointing thud. The platform erupts with sound and movement--a flurry of faces, voices, and trunks. People flow from the opened doors of the train like a colorful river, bobbing and cascading toward the staircases. Others pool around the doors waving tickets, clamoring to board. I should get on. Almost as suddenly as it started, the commotion slows. Trunks are hauled away. Passengers settle into their seats. The conductor, a heavyset man wearing a too-tight blue uniform, walks the length of three train cars in either direction giving everyone a last chance to disembark or board. I really should get on. My eyes fix on the open train door, a portal promising to whisk me away from my recent failure . . . only to drop me directly on the front steps of all my old ones. I'm the only one left on the platform. The conductor glances my way. I see a spark of recognition in his eyes. He must remember me from yesterday morning. Or possibly the morning before that. But it's not his business whether or not I get on the train, and the annoyed expression on his face makes this perfectly clear as he grants me one more moment to decide. Deep inside I hear her. My mother. Margaret Louise, she says. It's all she says. But it means so many things. Stop fooling around. This is the way it is. Get on the train. Excerpted from What Every Girl Should Know: Margaret Sanger's Journey by J. Albert Mann All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.