Product Description

Extensively researched, this fast-paced historical novel about Charlotte (Charley) Parkhurst combines all the known facts of a daring woman's colorful life in the Wild West with Pam Munoz Ryan's own spirited imaginings Ages 8-12. Pub: 2/98. .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29415 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

From Publishers Weekly
PW's starred review called this fictionalized biography of equestrian Charlotte "Charley" ParkhurstAwho lived her life disguised as a man and was the first woman voter in the U.S.Aan "ebullient and tautly structured novel that moves along at a gallop." Ages 8-12. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6?This fictionalized biography of the first woman to vote in the state of California, and perhaps in the whole United States, is fascinating. Charlotte Parkhurst, known as Charley, spent most of her life masquerading as a man. Raised in an orphanage where she is the only girl, she is prevented from being adopted by the staff, who put her to work in the kitchen. Her own predilection is to be with the horses and the elderly man who cares for them. Vern's tales of escaping slavery are the seeds of Charlotte's own desperate bid for freedom after her only other friend is adopted. Her knack with horses soon enables the disguised Charley to pursue her dream of driving a stagecoach. She does it so well that she is admired and sought after, and is offered the opportunity to earn a livelihood in the California gold fields. Many trials arise, including the loss of sight in her left eye, but throughout, Charlotte remembers her friends, works hard and persistently, and fulfills her ambitions, culminating in her voting in a presidential election. The author provides a compact and exciting story about real people who exemplify traits that readers admire. A concluding note tells more about the historical facts surrounding Parkhurst's life, but kids will read it just for the adventure. The full-page, black-and-white pencil drawings are well rendered and enhance the straightforward text.?Carol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 3^-6. In a lively historical novel, Ryan draws on the true life story of Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst ("One-Eyed Charley"), in the mid-nineteenth century, who disguised herself as a boy at the age of 12 and ran away from a grim New Hampshire orphanage. Always hiding the fact that she was female, she made a life for herself working with horses, first as a stable hand, then as an expert coach-driver, and later, out west, where she found her own place at last. Middle-schoolers will love the horse adventures and the stories of her trickery (she even used her male disguise to vote, more than 50 years before women were allowed to do that). Brian Selznick's full-page shaded pencil illustrations show the quiet, daring young woman in man's stiff clothing; they express her yearning and loneliness as well as her deadpan mischief and her bond with the horses she loved. Hazel Rochman