about the book
Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass grew up in an America different from today. It wasn’t proper for women to be friends with men, let alone for anyone to be friends with someone whose skin was a different color than yours.
Both Susan and Frederick knew these ideas were wrong.
They became close friends who shared a strong belief in equality and the need to fight for it.
Despite the prejudice they encountered, Susan and Frederick spoke out against slavery and fought for women’s rights.
How did these two unlikely friends change America?
about the author
Suzanne Slade’s writing journey began when she was very young. In first grade she wrote a story that was two whole pages long (long for a first-grader!) and her teacher gave it two stars and a smiley face.
That was her introduction to the world of writing. Three grades later, her fourth-grade teacher told Suzanne to write to her favorite author. She wrote a letter to Beverly Cleary, and Beverly Cleary wrote back! That was when Suzanne learned that authors were nice people.
When she was ten years old she and her family sailed around an island called Tortola. She wrote in a journal every day and night about what she saw on the island and in the ocean—her first book!
She went to college for engineering, however, and went on to work on car brakes and then Delta IV rockets. But after her son was born and they adopted their daughter, Suzanne started writing children’s books. She loved reading books to her kids, and thought she could do the same thing herself—it took over 80 rejection letters, but years of persistence paid off eventually, and now she writes full-time!
Source:
Author website
Also by Suzanne Slade:
The Great Divide. Sylvan Dell. 2012.
Multiply on the Fly. Sylvan Dell. 2011.
Climbing Lincoln’s Steps : The African American Journey. Albert Whitman. 2010.
What’s the Difference? : An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story. Sylvan Dell. 2010.
What’s New at the Zoo? : An Animal Adding Adventure. Sylvan Dell. 2009.
Animals Are Sleeping. Sylvan Dell. 2008.
about the illustrator
Nicole Tadgell’s natural shyness increased because her family moved frequently while she was growing up. It didn’t help that she was often the only black kid in her class, sometimes even the whole grade!
Because she felt so different, Nicole created her own worlds on paper. Art was both entertainment and escape.
After studying studio art at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, she realized there weren’t a lot of books with kids who looked like her. As a result, Nicole began illustrating children’s books.
“Sometimes I pretend I’m the kid in the book, and do the things they do in the story to really get a feel for each book.”
Nicole took Friends for Freedom so much to heart that she reconnected with a lifelong friend who she’d lost contact with. When they got together, it was like no time had passed!
She lives in Massachusetts, working as an Assistant Art Director when she’s not illustrating books.
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator guest blog post: Amitha Knight
Also by Nicole Tadgell:
With Books and Bricks : How Booker T. Washington Built a School by Suzanne Slade. Albert Whitman & Company. 2014.
First Peas to the Table : How Thomas Jefferson Inspired a School Garden by Susan Grigsby. Albert Whitman & Company. 2012.
In the Garden with Dr. Carver by Susan Grigsby. Albert Whitman & Company. 2010.
Lucky Beans by Becky Birtha. Albert Whitman & Company. 2010.
No Mush Today by Sally Derby. Lee & Low Books. 2008.
Josias, Hold the Book by Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren. Boyds Mills Press. 2006.
read more!
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In the 1880s, the privileged Emma Lazarus, moved by the plight of the immigrants arriving in New York City, helped them get housing and jobs. To raise money to build the base for the Statue of Liberty, she and other revered writers were asked to write poems. Her stirring words offered hope and refuge for all to gaze on the symbol of America’s promise.
Lincoln and Douglass : An American Friendship by Nikki Giovanni
Both President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had strong ideas about slavery. These ideas led them to fight against slavery and become good friends. How did the President and the former slave work together?
With Books and Bricks : How Booker T. Washington Built a School by Suzanne Slade
While still a slave, Booker T. Washington taught himself how to read. Once the Civil War ended, he graduated from school and was even invited to teach in Tuskegee, Alabama. There were plenty of students, but no school! So what did Booker do? He built one brick by brick!