The Bravest Woman in America

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Ana's Nonfiction Blog

Tricycle Press (Random House)

(pub. 7.12.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Marissa Moss
and illustrator:  Andrea U'Ren

C haracter: Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper

 

O verview from the publisher: 

        "Ida Lewis loved everything about the sea, so when her father became the official keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island, she couldn’t imagine anything better. Throughout the years, Ida shadowed her father as he tended the lighthouse, listening raptly to his stories about treacherous storms, drowning sailors, and daring rescues. Under her father’s watchful eye, she learned to polish the lighthouse lens so the light would shine bright.  
        She learned to watch the sea for any sign of trouble. And, most importantly, she learned to row.
        Ida felt ready for anything—and she was."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "The boys' faces were white with cold, their lips blue. One passed out, lying limp on the bottom of the boat.
        Ida didn't think. She rowed - harder and faster than she ever had. The waves crashed over her head, tilting the boat along a wall of green and gray. Ida kept on rowing, frantic to get them all to safety.
        'I can do it,' she told herself.  ' I have to do it.'"

and something more:  Marissa Moss' Author's Note in this picture book biography, The Bravest Woman in America, states that Ida Lewis "went on to rescue many more people after that first time when she was sixteen.  She was sixty-three when she made her last rescue.  Officially, she saved eighteen lives, but the real number may be as high as twenty-five."  And, I chuckled at Ida's quote: "Anyone who thinks it is un-feminine to save lives has the brains of a donkey."  Gotta love her spunk!