Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight by Jan Bryant and Toshiko Nakamura - ESSENTIAL

Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX by Jan Bryant, illustrated by Toshiko Nakamura. NON-FICTION PICTURE BOOK. Harper, JAN 2022. $18. 9780062957221 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Patsy turned 8 the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Despite the suspicion leveled towards her family, she remained a staunch support of the U.S. troops. At each phase of her education and her career as a lawyer, men threw up barriers against not only her gender, but her ethnicity. Regardless, she represented Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 24 years. Her greatest triumph in Congress was co-authoring Title IX, which extended equal rights to women at any school which receives federal funding. 

What an important story of grit and persistence! While I knew about Daniel Inouye from Hawaii, I don’t ever remember hearing Patsy Mink’s name. She was a force to be reckoned with and deserves to be known by every girl. I’ll be adding this to my middle school picture book biography collection 

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS