One Girl's Voice - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF + Giveaway

Vivian Kirkfield and Rebecca Gibbon have created a stunning and poignant ode to this lesser known girl who refused to be silenced. A determined and dedicated suffragist and abolitionist who deserves to be known and celebrated for her willingness to take a stand for equality for all.

Book cover - a woman stands, holding a banner (with the title), in front of a huge crowd of protestors on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

One Girl's Voice: How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land

Author: Vivian Kirkfield

Illustrator: Rebecca Gibbon

Publisher: Calkins Creek/ Astra Publishing (2025)

Ages: 7 - 10

Themes:

Biography, speaking up, civil rights, women's history, and suffragist.

Synopsis:

Suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone, a pioneer in the 19th century’s two greatest movements for equality, finds her voice in this STEAM picture book for budding activists.

Lucy Stone grew up in a world where men’s voices rang out, but women swallowed their words. When her church’s minister railed against women speaking in public, Lucy made up her mind that when she grew up, “if she had anything to say, she would say it!”

Forced to learn to debate and give speeches in secret, Lucy used her voice to pave the way for others, becoming one of the 19th century’s great advocates for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery.

In this engaging nonfiction book, Vivian Kirkfield’s passionate text and Rebecca Gibbon’s playful illustrations combine to encourage readers to find their own voices to speak up for what they believe in.

Opening Lines:

Lucy's ideas, thoughts, and opinions bubbled up,

ready to spill out. But in 1830, in Massachusetts

and across the United States, the law said the

voices of girls and women didn't count.

What I LOVED about this book:

As a young girl, Lucy Stone chaffed at society's rules against women and girls speaking up. In school, the teachers favored the boys. In church, the minister warned women should be silent. And at home, the only voice, opinion, or will that mattered "was my FATHER'S."

Internal spread - above and center Lucy's parents sit at the dinning table with her father scouring the paper and her mother quietly holding a baby. On the lower right, Lucy scowls while reading a book.

Text © Vivian Kirkfield, 2025. Image © Rebecca Gibbon, 2025.

Despite, or perhaps because, of her ability to outshine her brothers in math and memorization, her father declared her educated enough for a female. So, Lucy dug deep. She gathered and sold chestnuts, "sewed shoes, sold jam, and tutored school children" until she earned enough to enroll in Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio.

I love Rececca Gibbon's colorfully active acrylic and colored pencil illustrations! And the way she juxtaposes delightful spot illustrations of Lucy working, set against a white background, with an inventive, detailed, and engaging representation of her journey from home to Oberlin. Taking the reader along on Lucy's journey by stage, steamship, and train.

Internal spread - on the left, spot illustrations of Lucy sewing, teaching, selling jam, and collecting money. On the right, each leg of Lucy's journey - stage coach, steamship, and train - forms an illustrated box around the text.

Text © Vivian Kirkfield, 2025. Image © Rebecca Gibbon, 2025.

But even there, Lucy discovered girls were barred to speak in "public speaking class." Undeterred, Lucy created her own path, a secret debating club! Once their skills were sharpened and honed, Lucy put her skills to use. Although Oberlin let her teach classes (to help pay for room and meals), her pay was half what the male students earned. She wrote a letter to the school board and conducted her first protest - refusing to teach until she received equal pay. She won the right for "all students...to receive the same pay for the same work."

Internal image - in a cabin in the woods, Lucy and four women practice debate, while three women keep watch outside.

Lucy continued fighting - refusing to write a graduation speech, when she learned only a male student could read it aloud. The first Massachusetts woman with a four-year degree, Lucy worked with the New England Anti-slavery society, while continuing to fight for women's rights. Lucy travelled the country. Vivian Kirkfield and Rebecca Gibbon succinctly and stunningly show the conditions Lucy struggled through in her determination to use her voice to right injustice and inequality across America. She even fought the traditional view of marriage, rewriting the vows and keeping her own name (gasp!). Because "change would only come if people spoke out and demanded it," Lucy rallied others to ..... Well, you'll just have to get this captivating and engaging biography to discover all of Lucy's amazing accomplishments and honors.

It might be eye-opening for many young readers, in examining the back matter, to discover just how many changes in "speaking up," in forcing open doors for equality, have occurred in the last twenty to thirty years. It's not just an event or occurrence in long ago, dusty, musty history. It is still happening now. There are still more needs and injustices to be addressed to create an honestly equal and accepting society in our country. This is a wonderful biography celebrating Lucy Stone and her refusal to be silenced and accept an unjust status quo. A role model for everyone in a time when some are trying to silence voices, restrict learning, and make others not count.

Resources:

check out the book's educator materials - coming soon at https://viviankirkfield.com/one-girls-voice/.

use your voice. If you see something wrong or unfair in your school, neighborhood, city, state, or country, how can you use your voice like Lucy Stone? Speak up for yourself, others, and the planet. Send letters (to the principal, elected official, or newspaper) or join with a group to help fix the problem.

pair this with We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade, Speak Up by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Ebony Glenn, Girls on the Rise by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loveis Wise, and No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley.

🎈🎉 A SUPER Special Giveaway 🎉🎈

Are you ready for something super special . . . We are SO extremely lucky!

Vivian Kirkfield is offering a 30-minute "Ask Me Anything" for EACH commenter on the post.

If you missed my interview with Vivian Kirkfield on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.