Get the Best Gifts for Dad in Time With Store Pick-Up Shop Father's Day

Motor Girls: How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century

Add to Wishlist

Motor Girls: How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century

Hardcover

$18.99

Hardcover
$18.99

SHIP THIS ITEM

Qualifies for Free Shipping
PICK UP IN STORE
Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Available within 2 business hours

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Related collections and offers

Overview

Come along for a joy ride in this enthralling tribute to the daring women – Motor Girls, as they were called at the turn of the century – who got behind the wheel of the first cars and paved the way for change. The automobile has always symbolized freedom, and in this book we meet the first generation of female motorists who drove cars for fun, profit, and to make a statement about the evolving role of women. From the advent of the auto in the 1890s to the 1920s when the breaking down of barriers for women was in full swing, readers will be delighted to see historical photos, art, and artifacts and to discover the many ways these progressive females influenced fashion, the economy, politics, and the world around them.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426326974
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

SUE MACY is the author of Bulls-Eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley; Swifter, Higher, Stronger: A Photographic History of the Summer Olympics; Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics; Play Like A Girl: A Celebration of Women in Sports; Winning Ways: A Photohistory of American Women in Sports; and A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She brings a consciousness of the history of women in sport to the story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley and carries this mythic and historic figure gracefully into modern light. She has won numerous awards and starred reviews for her books. Winning Ways and A Whole New Ball Game were both named ALA Best Books for Young Adults and NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

11/14/2016
Macy builds on Wheels of Change, which examined the connections between women’s rights and the mobility offered by the bicycle, as she chronicles the history of the automobile and the paths that led women to become motorists. Against a backdrop of captivating archival photographs and excerpts from periodicals, she introduces several “Motor Girls” who made strides behind the wheel. In 1909, Alice Ramsey became the first woman to drive a car across the United States; she was followed by numerous other cross-country female drivers and racers. A section on WWI demonstrates how the war necessitated that women pilot ambulances and other automobiles, further solidifying that woman could, and wanted to, drive vehicles. Using the lens of automotive history to inform a greater narrative about women’s liberation, Macy capably shows how threads of the past are intertwined. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Macy’s lively writing and vivid descriptions of treacherous roads conditions become all the more fascinating when combined with the crisp archival photos, car advertisements, news stories, and quotations embellishing each chapter... Steer any reader with an interest in history towards this fantastic book." — Booklist Starred Review

"This meticulously researched account of early automobiles and women is an excellent companion to Macy’s previous title Wheels of Change... This insight into women automobile pioneers is well worth it. Highly recommended for tween and teen history collections." — School Library Journal Starred Review

"Using the lens of automotive history to inform a greater narrative about women's liberation, Macy capably shows how threads of the past are intertwined." — Publisher's Weekly

"Macy wheels out another significant and seldom explored chapter in women's history." — Kirkus

"Macy handily contextualizes women’s embrace of driving within the larger framework of world war and the suffrage movement...a spunky title with appeal for report writers." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

.

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2017
Gr 6 Up—This meticulously researched account of early automobiles and women is an excellent companion to Macy's previous title Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). Macy delves into early automobile history through the use of primary sources, period photographs, and archival materials to show how women cracked gender stereotypes and whizzed past societal barriers. The prevailing sentiment in the early 20th century was that driving was too messy, strenuous, and nerve-racking for women. However, women proved themselves over and over again, competing in endurance races, cross-country trips, and speed trials. Of particular interest is the role the car played in the suffrage movement. As women became more mobile, they could gather for meetings and make their collective voices louder. The role female drivers played during World War I is also discussed. Once the Great War ended, some of these figures didn't want to relinquish their employment, foreshadowing similar home front experiences after the Second World War. Overall, it is important to note that this book tells the story of a narrow group of people; many, many women were prohibited from driving well past the time period covered. VERDICT Although it may take a bit of selling on the part of librarians, this insight into women automobile pioneers is well worth it. Highly recommended for tween and teen history collections.—Lisa Crandall, formerly at the Capital Area District Library, Holt, MI

School Library Journal

2016-11-23
Well-documented proof that, when it came to early automobiles, it wasn't just men who took the wheel. Despite relentlessly flashy page design that is more distracting than otherwise and a faint typeface sure to induce eyestrain, this companion to Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (2011) chronicles decided shifts in gender attitudes and expectations as it puts women (American women, mostly) behind the wheel in the first decades of the 20th century. Sidebar profiles and features, photos, advertisements, and clippings from contemporary magazines and newspapers festoon a revved-up narrative that is often set in angular blocks for added drama. Along with paying particular attention to women who went on the road to campaign for the vote and drove ambulances and other motor vehicles during World War I, Macy recounts notable speed and endurance races, and she introduces skilled drivers/mechanics such as Alice Ramsey and Joan Newton Cuneo. She also diversifies the predominantly white cast with nods to Madam C.J. Walker, her daughter, A'Lelia (both avid motorists), and the wartime Colored Women's Motor Corps. An intro by Danica Patrick, checklists of "motoring milestones," and an extended account of an 1895 race run and won by men do more for the page count than the overall story—but it's nonetheless a story worth the telling. Macy wheels out another significant and seldom explored chapter in women's history. (index, statistics, source notes, annotated reading list) (Nonfiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews