School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Inspired by the early life of Mary Edwards Walker, this brief fictional account highlights Dr. Walker's childhood rebellion against the traditional dress of women and girls in the mid to late 1800s. Supported by her parents, she wore pants as she pleased for freedom of movement and comfort. This brief book is a celebration of her early independent thought, fight against social dress norms of the day, and her eventual lifelong career and dedication to medicine and hygiene. Young Mary's self-confidence, support from her father, and personal battle at an early age are presented here-illustrated strongly with shocked adult reactions to a strong-willed child and angry town residents with signs chasing her on the way to school. A short biographical note by the author does not mention the early school she attended that was founded by her forward-thinking parents, but does include her continued independence in dress, her choice of education, and career as a surgeon and activist for the rest of her life. Art in pencil and paper collage with a multitude of prints in pinks and grays create the diverse array of characters in Mary's world. -VERDICT A supplemental purchase inspired by a noted American woman in the field of medicine.-Mary Elam, -Learning -Media -Services, Plano ISD, TX © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Negley's strong-minded heroine is loosely based on Mary Edwards Walker, a trailblazing female physician born in 1832 who was "arrested repeatedly" for wearing trousers. The pint-size Walker hates wearing the "heavy-and-hot-and-hard-to-breathe-in dresses" of her era and believes that "the way things have always been" didn't have to stay that way. Negley's distinctive graphic style features clownlike figures and dominating splashes of shocking pink, blue, and yellow. When Walker sports a pair of pants and is maligned by disapproving townsfolk, she expresses her frustrations to her father, a sympathetic figure with an inky black beard and long silhouette. Sometimes all it takes is one courageous person to challenge the rules: to the girl's delight, other girls embrace wearing pants, too. Back matter provides a photo of Walker along with brief biographical content. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When Mary gets the daring idea to wear pants, she's met with angry adults for wearing "boy's clothes," but inside school she finds a classroom of girls also wearing pants--and happy smiles. Illustrations place the aspirational story based on Civil War surgeon and feminist Mary Walker's (18321919) life in a vaguely mid-nineteenth-century American setting; playful content, a riot of fabric patterns, and cheerful candy colors lend a modern sensibility. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A young schoolgirl learns to follow her own rules despite opposition and pressure in this picture book inspired by Mary Edward Walker.In the early 1800s, girls weren't allowed to wear pants. Only "uncomfortable dressesheavy-and-hot-and-hard-to-breathe-in dresses." The expressive pink and blue drawings and patterns on ample white space show unhappy, immobile girls, while boys in pants cartwheel, jump, run, and play. But one day Mary has an idea. She wears pants. The townspeople are shocked! They heckle her, they throw things at her, they tell her not to wear boys' clothes. In a touching scene, she sits with her father and asks if she should stop wearing pants. He says that people sometimes fear what they don't understand, but he doesn't tell her what to do. She decides to stick with her decision: "I'm wearing my clothes!" In the end, she's a trendsetter. The constant association of skirts with frowns and pants with happiness oversimplifies both the historical moment and a modern-day environment in which skirts are the norm in many cultures. The sudden appearance of all the girls in pants (and smiles) at the end as well as multiracial faces among both hecklers and classmates make this more of a story than a biography. But the example of following one's inner compass and bucking the status quo comes across loud and clear. A note on the historical Walker, a white woman who served as a surgeon during the Civil War, is appended.An endearing delivery of a valuable message, to be taken with several grains of salt. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The nineteenth-century childhood of women's-rights activist Dr. Mary Walker, who eschewed dresses, inspired this tale of being true to oneself. Believing Pants were just plain better, elementary-school-aged Mary bravely marched into town in a pair, but all adults (except her supportive father) and many of her peers disapproved. Mary persevered, wearing my clothes, and finally one day entered her classroom to see the other girls all wearing pants, too. At face value, this is an empowering story with a sunny ending, and the striking watercolor pencil and cut-paper artwork, with its hot pinks, dark grays, bold patterns, and stylized characters' expressions, seems to come from right out of a South Park episode. Though not nonfiction, this is still likely to raise questions about the historical period upon which it's based: Were all of Mary's contemporaries miserable wearing dresses? Were white and black Americans integrated in her pre-Civil War community, as depicted here? Despite generalizations and anachronisms, Negley's point is firmly made and sure to elicit cheers.--Andrew Medlar Copyright 2018 Booklist
