Nellie vs. Elizabeth: Two Daredevil Journalists' Breakneck Race Around the World

by Kate Hannigan (Author) Rebecca Gibbon (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

In this real-life adventure, daredevil and groundbreaking journalists Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland race against each other-and the clock-as they circle the globe by ship, train, and foot. Join these two stereotype-shattering reporters as they prove that not only is traveling around the world possible, but that women are just as curious, capable, and courageous as any man.

Nellie Bly was an energetic and eager reporter, but she wasn't able to think of a good story for her editors. Wishing she was on the other end of the earth, Nellie had an inspiration-she would travel around the world, just like in the fictional adventure book Around the World in Eighty Days. When a fellow journalist, Elizabeth Bisland, heard about Nellie's plans, she decided to up the stakes-by beating Nellie in her own race!

This exciting American history story about two pioneering women who paved the way for equality will inspire young readers.

The perfect choice for parents and teachers looking for:

  • Books for kids ages 7 - 10 about women's history
  • Feminist picture books about historical women, and daring books for girls
  • American history books for kids
Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

ALA/Booklist

On November 18, 1889, two journalists left New York separately, each determined to circle the globe. Few women worked as journalists, and fewer would have
dared to take such a difficult journey alone.... A spirited, historical picture book.

Kirkus

This mutual homage mutes the thrill of competition, yet there's much to love in this historic tale of female derring-do.

Publishers Weekly

In this swiftly paced picture book adventure, Hannigan traces the 1889-1890 circumnavigation of the globe undertaken by two intrepid women journalists: "eager and energetic" Nellie Bly (1864-1922) and "refined and dignified" Elizabeth Bisland (1861-1929), who each sought to beat Jules Verne's fictional journey, Around the World in 80 Days, for their respective editors. As both Bly and Bisland embark from New York in opposite directions, high-energy prose tracks their progress, studded with direct quotes from both travelers and coverage of their trips: " 'I am running a race with Time, ' Nellie told a steamship agent in Hong Kong. 'Time?' he replied. 'I don't think that's her name.' Nellie's jaw dropped. This was the first she'd heard of Elizabeth Bisland." In acrylic inks and colored pencil, Gibbon provides brightly colored, intricately doodle-like accompaniment as numbered spreads portray the women's impressively conveyed journeys. Back matter includes a creators' note and a timeline of women investigative journalists. Ages 7-10. (Feb.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4--Two creative, energetic women set out on an around-the-world journalists' dream assignment in this book. Readers meet Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland in the late 1800s. Bly, inspired by the popularity of the book Around the World in 80 Days, upped the idea of circling the globe in 75 days! After Bly assured her editor that a woman could do the assignment, she set sail across the Atlantic. That very evening Bisland's editor called to ask if she would challenge Bly and sail the opposite direction. At first, Bisland was less than enthusiastic but eventually, she also set out to globe-trot. The book follows these two women on their journeys around the world, and at one point even their steamships cross paths. The pages are colorful and have lovely landmarks of the locations Bly and Bisland pass through during their travels. One highlight young readers will love is Bly's souvenir from Singapore, a monkey she names McGinty. This empowering story ends with a terrific author's note that includes images from the time period, newspaper clippings, and other highlights of the lives and work of other female journalists. VERDICT This unusual story with its driven women and epic tour belongs on the biography shelves, but the adventure shelves, too.--Erin Olsen

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Hannigan's text and Gibbon's ink and colored pencil illustrations...effectively compare and contrast the personalities of the racers. A host of brief, breathless quotations from periodicals, commentators, and the subjects themselves offer insight into how the race was experienced by late nineteenth-century media consumers. An author's note alerts readers that the staged frenemy coverage masked just how much Bly and Bisland had in common, from obstacles both faced as women working in male-dominated journalism to their deaths by pneumonia and their interments in the same cemetery. Also included are brief biographies of ten female investigative journalists from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, a chatty note by Gibbons on her research, and a bibliography. —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Kate Hannigan
Chicago children's author Kate Hannigan writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers. A former newspaper journalist, she is the author of numerous children's books, including A Lady Has the Floor and Nellie vs. Elizabeth.

Sarah Green is a RISD-educated illustrator and designer from San Francisco. She is the illustrator of numerous picture books, including Fight of the Century by Barb Rosenstock and Born Hungry by Alex Prud'homme.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781684373772
Lexile Measure
910
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Calkins Creek Books
Publication date
February 15, 2022
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF025200 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/19th Century
JNF023000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Girls & Women
Library of Congress categories
United States
Travel
Women journalists
Journalists
Bly, Nellie
Bisland, Elizabeth

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