Clara Barton and Her Victory over Fear [Library Binding]

Robert M. Quackenbush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995 | Age Level: 8 and up

Describes the childhood fears that made even simple requests difficult for Clara Barton, and relates how she overcame such fears in order to help on the battlefields of the Civil War and establish the American Red Cross.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-4?Biographies of women of great courage and strong character are always welcome, and Clara Barton has a detailed, highly readable, storylike text. The writing is lively, describing Barton's childhood and accomplishments as a teacher, nurse, and founder of the American Red Cross. Each double-page spread consists of a full-page, black-and-white illustration done in charcoal line and gouache mixed with acrylic gel, faced by two to three paragraphs of text. Readers will be inspired by the life of a woman who lived in Victorian times and is still admired today for her humanitarian work.?Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2^-5. Clara Barton has always been a ready topic for elementary biography, but in highlighting the diversity of Barton's careers--teacher, first female Washington government employee, and role as nurse and founder of the Red Cross--Quackenbush has updated the famous legend. While the full-page charcoal drawings make the book accessible to the youngest readers, it is well written and interesting enough to allow it to move into upper elementary, even middle school, and be of use to less proficient, older readers. Frances Bradburn

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Juv) (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671865986
• ISBN-13: 978-0671865986
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,493,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author/Artist/Educator Robert Quackenbush has written and illustrated over 200 books for young readers including his popular Miss Mallard Mysteries, which have been made into animated films for children's worldwide television programming by Cinar (now Cookie Jar Entertainment) that are showing in 70 countries. His books have won many awards and citations including an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, a Gradiva Award, and a gold medal from the Holland Society of New York for distinction in art and literature by a member of the society. He is a frequent visiting author at schools and libraries giving programs to instill children with a love of books and reading. These tours have taken him across the US, including Alaska, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. His art is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Department of Interior, the U.S. Air Force Museum, and Norton Simon Museum. For further information, visit his Web site www.rquackenbush.com, which also gives his Facebook and Blog addresses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent juvenile biography of Clara Barton, July 3, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Clara Barton: And Her Victory over Fear (Turtleback)

"Clara Barton and Her Victory Over Fear" is an excellent juvenile biography of the woman who is remembered for serving as a battlefield nurse during the Civil War and honored for founding the American Red Cross. What makes Robert Quackenbush's biography so superb is the way he tells Barton's story as a series of key episodes that reflect her strong character. He focuses on a line from her memories where she wrote, "In the earliest years of my life, I remember nothing but fear." Quackenbush develops that sense of fear in a series of stories about how she reacted to seeing a snake, the butchering of an ox, and a violent thunderstorm. But then the shy little girl begins to accomplish things. While she would never assert herself for herself, young Clara was perfectly fearless when she acted for others.

What young readers will find fascinating is that before the Civil War that would make her famous as "the Angel of the Battlefield," Clara Barton led an extraordinary life for a young woman. As a teacher she opened the first public school in Hightown, New Jersey when she found out that the children of poor people who could not afford to pay teachers were not being educated. The school was so successful that a brand new public school had to be built, at which point the school board appointed a young man to be principal and demoted Clara to "female assistant" at half the salary. Barton resigned and moved to Washington, D.C. to live with her sister. There she became the first women ever to work in the capital at a government office. Even more amazing, as a clerk at the Bureau of United States Patents she was paid the same salary that male clerk were earning.

Of course it was during the Civil War that Barton first became famous. During the American Civil War two soldiers died of disease for every one killed in battle. Thousands died from scurvy, typhoid, diphtheria, and pneumonia. Boys from farms, crowded together with men from the cities for the fist time in their young lives proved to be especially susceptible to the onslaught of diseases. On both sides of the conflict medical care was, at best, primitive. Barton started out collecting and distributing brandy, tobacco, lemons, soaps, sewing kits, and homemade jellies to the troops from her native Massachusetts. In the bloody aftermath of the First Battle of Bull Run Barton realized that much more was needed and she declared her place was "anywhere between the bullet and the battlefield."

Quackenbush not only covers Barton's efforts during the Civil War, but afterwards when she established a bureau to trace missing soldiers. Barton traveled to Europe where she worked as a nurse during the Franco-Prussian War as part of the International Red Cross. Then she returned to the United States and founded the American Red Cross and worked to establish the reputation that it enjoys to this day. Even when she retired, she went on to create the National First Aid Society to assist accident victims. After reading Quackenbush's biography, it is easy to include that Clara Barton is one of the five most important American women of all time.

The book is illustrated with pictures done in charcoal line and painted in gouache mixed with acrylic gel. The pictures appear opposite each page of text. But is the text that makes this an excellent biography, focusing on the important episodes and accomplishments of Barton's life. Other books in this series are devoted to Arthur Ashe, Amelia Earnhart, Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Langhorn Clemens, Davy Crockett, and Nellie Bly. However, those other volumes will have to be really good just to meet the standard set by "Clara Barton and Her Victory Over Fear."