March 2016 - Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey - A spunky read for older elementary and middle school girls!
“ … I was starting to understand the reporter side of the newspaper business. I also – finally – got that my being mad wouldn’t change the way Maude wrote about Miss Giddings.
No – if I was going to get Maude to tell a different story, I’d have to make her believe a different story.
‘Hey, Maude,’ I said, giving her the newspaper I held so she could sell that, too. ‘When you’re done filling up my mom’s money jar, you wanna go see that murder scene? The way I see it?’” Isabel Feeney pg. 108-109 – Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey
Ten year old Isabel Feeney is a newsgirl, selling the Chicago Tribune on the cold, windy and sometimes dangerous streets of the big city, but she dreams of being a reporter someday. Unfortunately for Isabel its 1926 and women reporters usually get stuck writing articles about cooking and fashion. To make matters worse, Isabel can’t go to school because she has to work to help support herself and her mom. How can a kid who doesn’t even go to school get a job as a reporter for a big fancy newspaper? By being in the right place at the wrong time!
A gun shot; one of Isabel’s regular customers, Miss Giddings, kneeling over a dead body and a chance meeting with crime reporter, Maude Collier, set a chain of events in motion that will change Isabel’s life … if she can stay out of trouble. Isabel, along with two unlikely friends, search for clues and try to piece together the events that left gangster Charles “The Bull” Bessemer dead, and his fiancée, Miss Giddings, behind bars. Along the way, Maude befriends Isabel and helps her write what could be her first article for the Tribune.
Can Isabel survive the dangerous streets of Chicago in the hay day of Al Capone and his gangster pals? Check out Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey, to find out.
Chicago in the 1920’s was a dangerous place, gangsters and crime was everywhere. While Isabel’s story isn’t real, the places are real, some of the background events really happened, and the character of Maude Collier is based on Genevieve Forbes Herrick. Herrick was a female reporter for the Tribune in the 1920’s & 30’s, who covered politics, human rights issues and probably her fair share of high profile murder cases. She paved the way for other female reporters, giving them the opportunity to work side by side with male reporters, instead of just covering cooking, fashion and other “suitable” topics for ladies of the day. Stop by the library to find more books with strong female characters and plenty of girl power!
No – if I was going to get Maude to tell a different story, I’d have to make her believe a different story.
‘Hey, Maude,’ I said, giving her the newspaper I held so she could sell that, too. ‘When you’re done filling up my mom’s money jar, you wanna go see that murder scene? The way I see it?’” Isabel Feeney pg. 108-109 – Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey
Ten year old Isabel Feeney is a newsgirl, selling the Chicago Tribune on the cold, windy and sometimes dangerous streets of the big city, but she dreams of being a reporter someday. Unfortunately for Isabel its 1926 and women reporters usually get stuck writing articles about cooking and fashion. To make matters worse, Isabel can’t go to school because she has to work to help support herself and her mom. How can a kid who doesn’t even go to school get a job as a reporter for a big fancy newspaper? By being in the right place at the wrong time!
A gun shot; one of Isabel’s regular customers, Miss Giddings, kneeling over a dead body and a chance meeting with crime reporter, Maude Collier, set a chain of events in motion that will change Isabel’s life … if she can stay out of trouble. Isabel, along with two unlikely friends, search for clues and try to piece together the events that left gangster Charles “The Bull” Bessemer dead, and his fiancée, Miss Giddings, behind bars. Along the way, Maude befriends Isabel and helps her write what could be her first article for the Tribune.
Can Isabel survive the dangerous streets of Chicago in the hay day of Al Capone and his gangster pals? Check out Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter by Beth Fantaskey, to find out.
Chicago in the 1920’s was a dangerous place, gangsters and crime was everywhere. While Isabel’s story isn’t real, the places are real, some of the background events really happened, and the character of Maude Collier is based on Genevieve Forbes Herrick. Herrick was a female reporter for the Tribune in the 1920’s & 30’s, who covered politics, human rights issues and probably her fair share of high profile murder cases. She paved the way for other female reporters, giving them the opportunity to work side by side with male reporters, instead of just covering cooking, fashion and other “suitable” topics for ladies of the day. Stop by the library to find more books with strong female characters and plenty of girl power!