Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Motor Girls by Sue Macy - OPTIONAL


Macy, Sue Motor Girls : How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century, NON-FICTION 96 pgs. National Geographic,  2017. $18.99. Content: G.  

In 1895, when people first started racing motor cars, no one imagined that women would be as interested as men were.  This is the story of some of those early drivers, the problems they encountered because they were women, the rules put in force to keep women from participating, and where the women shifted their interest instead.  Not away from driving, oh no, they entered long distance contests  - Tiffany and Company had a special medal for people who drive coast to coast - many women earned it.  They became cab drivers and ambulance drivers, and it was the motor car that propelled the suffragettes to success in obtaining the vote!  

This book contains turn of the century (20th century) photographs, magazine and newspaper ads, and artwork from the period.  The reader learns about manners and clothing, and the rules of the road.  Sidebars include vignettes about specific rules or women driver experiences, and there are several full page tributes to some of our earliest motor girls.  Includes an appendix, index and source material, with websites, museums and books.  Although not a topic most 21st century kids would be interested in, this would go nicely with a study of women’s rights.  

EL - OPTIONAL  Lisa Librarian

No comments: