Raise Your Hand

by Alice Paul Tapper

Raise Your Hand

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, School, Nonfiction, Feminism, Memoir, Womens

300 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2019

Reviews

[Bettendorf Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Alice Tapper noticed that the girls in her class weren't participating as much as the boys, she knew she had to do something about it. With help from her Girl Scout troop and her parents, she came up with a patch that other girls could earn if they took a pledge to be more confident in school.
-Christine

[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute picture book is written by a sixth grader in Washington D. C. The story documents her experience of coming up with the “raise your hand” initiative in her Girl Scout troop. Her idea ended up becoming a national patch which landed her even on the news station. I appreciate that she documents both the good and the bad to implementing this idea – such a great book to discus in a classroom of both girls and boys as we all consider how our sex plays into the school classroom experience.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love everything about this. The story behind it is fantastic, the illustrations are great and fit well stylistically, and omg it’s written by the Girl Scout herself. Bravo!

[Aliza Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn over this. I love the message of inspiring girls to be confident in speaking up and raising their hand. But the way that her school is portrayed gives a narrow view and outdated mode of teaching. The teacher asks questions and students are raising their hands to answer with a “right“ answer. I wish there had been other situations portrayed such as in group work or other school situations.

[Ellon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes when I saw other reviews and the synopsis. I think it's a great idea for the execution of the book just wasn't great. It came off as really preachy and not all that interesting or even empowering. It reads like like was written by an 11-year old... not in a good way.

I just expected more from it.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book & project to empower girls to be more confident! Although my issue with raising my hand was a little different than Alice’s, I very distinctly remember when I stopped raising my hand in middle school. I started a new school in 6th grade (a small school, but much bigger than my previous one). At first, I raised my hand to answer every question I knew, but soon I was made fun of by the boys in my class for being a teacher’s pet or a know-it-all. Although I still wanted to answer the questions, I stopped raising my hand and would only answer them if directly called on by the teacher. Since then, there have been many times in life where I’ve been scared to speak up & numerous people have told me that I’m too timid. I’m not sure that is all due to the school situation, but it’s definitely related. I’m glad this book is out there encouraging girls to speak up. I hope it helps them to be more confident & assertive!

[Morgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story. I cannot believe that a six grade girl came up with the girl's scout Raise Your Hand pledge and patch. This book can be such a great encouragement to young girls. I absolutely love it. If a young girl can write a book and start a movement; any female can do anything they set their mind to. This is all factual and is kind of written like a memoir or a journal entry. The illustrations are cute. This book is a New York Times bestseller an Amelia Bloomer Award (feminist) winner. This should be in every elementary classroom and every parent's home library.

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Umm... yes. A feminist picture book that tells the story of a girl scout who fights to encourage girls to be more confident in themselves? There is a reason why this book ended up on a list of feminist books from the ALA for kids. It's still super necessary. Feminism is not finished.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this at breakfast. It is a real life story and a good book about a girl who starts doubting herself at school, but decides to do something about it. She's a Girl Scout and leads the way to the introduction of a Raise your Hand badge, which you can get by participating at school, even if sometimes you don't get the best answers. It's empowering and drives a good message.

I do wonder, though, if these books might not backfire and put doubts in girls who otherwise wouldn't have them. My daughter, for example, is an average student and she said she never thought about not participating in the classroom. Hopefully she doesn't start now.

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about The Girl Scouts

[Pamela Beckford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love children’s books with a life message. Especially when it empowers girls. This book fit that perfectly. We need girls to be more confident now so they will grow up to be confident women.

[Mary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The portrayal of school is somewhat over-simplified, but the message that girls need to be brave enough to participate is a good one. Love that this book was written by an 11 year-old. Definitely sharing with my whole class, where domineering boys outnumber the girls almost 2-1.

[Yapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story to empower girls to speak up in class!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Tapper, daughter of CNN's Jake Tapper, helped to create a new patch for the Girl Scouts, based on the need she saw for girls to speak up in school. Sometimes positive change can be as simple as a patch on your Girl Scout uniform.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about a young girl scout who saw a need and did something to fill it. She created a GS patch and pledge to help empower girls to raise their hands and speak up, even when they might not know the answer. It tries to help girls take chances and be brave. While the book itself is a little pedantic, the idea is awesome and the illustrations perfectly fit the style of a girl scout.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting look at how a girl got a Girl Scout badge made and wanted to boost confidence in others.... but there was some element to it that didn’t really resonate with me that I can’t put my finger on

[Marlie Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raise Your Hand by Alice Paul Trapper, a sixth-grader from Washington D.C, wrote a story about herself a girl scout named Alice. Alice admits that she gets scared to do alot of things like canoeing, zip-lining, and even raising her hand in class. She is scared of getting the answer wrong and notices that not one girl in her entire class raises there hand when the teacher asks questions, its always the boys. She brings this to the attention of her Mom and her girl scout troop. She comes up with the idea to start a program called Raise Your Hand for all the girls that are too scared to do something. This program grows larger and reaches girls all over, giving young girls the confidence to be bold and brave!

The theme of this book is women empowerment. It shows people that girls are just as capable, smart, and confident as boys.

I liked this book, I definitely related to it being a girl and feeling these same struggles when I'm in school and raising my hand. I think it's important for girls to feel brave and confident because of girls are just as good as boys. This is valuable to learn at a young age, and I even think boys could benefit from hearing this story as well.

I would recommend this book because I think its a unique topic for a children's book and is super important to be taught at a young age that boys and girls are equals capable of all the same things. I love that it highlights young girls being innovative, brave, and bold.

[Julia Dundon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Amelia Bloomer Project List consists of books with well written and illustrated significant feminist content. Raise Your Hand by Alice Paul Tapper, is part of this highly recognized list. Raise Your Hand is about a young Girl Scout, Alice, who comes up with the great idea for a new badge. She came up with the idea of having girls earn a patch for raising their had in class after she had realized that it was more common for the boys to raise their hands and participate. Girls often feel to scared to raise their hands, making this story relatable for young children. One point of interest in this story is the point of view. The point of view is told from Alice’s perspective, giving girls hope that they too can be more active in class activities. This also allows young boys to see how girls feel about participating in class. They can empathize with the girls, hopefully encouraging them to engage in conversation. This story can be utilized by teachers in the classroom by encouraging students to split off into groups with a mixture of both boys and girls. Typically when kids split off into groups during class time, they choose their friends before anyone else. This can help spark new friendships and encourage all students to be more active in participating during class time.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authored by sixth-grade Girl Scout, this simple but important picture book reveals her personal awareness of and proactive response to observations that GIRLS weere/are less likely to raise hands in school settings. Based on true experiences, she worked with GSA and various press outlets to promote support for GIRLS to earn a badge for raising hands and participating in class.
Several things make this story more powerful:
1) The author is a young girl sharing her own experiences and outreach effort,
2) The examples given are very simple and familiar, and the emotions are ones that girls will readily recognize
3) Self-talk can be negative as well as positive. In this case her awareness of self-imposed "fear" of making a mistake is balanced by her discomfort with holding herself back, then sharing her thoughts and taking steps to change herself and her world.
Lots to like here, as mentor text for writing from personal experience, but also for emotional awarenesss and development of a plan of action.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazon reviews:

Alice discovered one day after she raised her hand in class and gave the wrong answer, how humiliated she felt. She did not raise her hand again. She talked with her mom about her feelings, and that she observed other girls were not raising their hands to answer questions. They did not seem as confident as the boys. This is Alice’s story on how she devised a plan with her Girl Scout troop to help all girls to become more confident. This is a wonderful story by Alice Paul, and I give her many kudos on her ability to recognize a problem, to discuss it with her family, and to help solve that problem.


This is a terrific book for young girls headed off to school . Both the text and the illustrations are simple but engaging and have a powerful message. I wish my own daughters had been less anxious about being wrong and more willing to speak out in class as young girls. I am giving this book as a gift to all my friends with young daughters.

[Anna W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book to help young girls increase their confidence. Alice is afraid of being wrong when she raises her hand in class, but she notices that boys are not. She wants to encourage other girls to be more confident too, so she approaches her Girl Scouts troop about making a badge for being more confident in class... and it works! Alice ends up going on TV and discussing her idea, getting the badge created, and inspiring other girls to be more confident. The best part is that she herself also becomes more confident in her efforts. She is not always right, but she is no longer afraid to speak up.

Perfect for K-2 readers!

[Connie T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most girls, Alice Tapper was afraid to raise her hand in class in case she didn't know the answer to the question. Unlike most girls, Alice did something about it. First, she discussed the problem with her Scout troop. Second, upon realizing her friends felt the same way, she had the idea to develope a patch and pledge program for the Girl Scouts in an effort to encourage girls to have more confidence in themselves. And finally, she wrote this book about the experience. The result is encouraging, inspiring, and empowering. Despite all that, this is a good book rather than an awesome book.

[Emmy Kirkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Informational Nonfiction
Grade Level: K-2

I loved the message of this book, along with the fact that the author is only in 6th grade! She made this story super relatable by mentioning her classroom and how raising your hand is intimidating. I feel like this is something a lot of students deal with. It was interesting to read how she took this little fear and turned it into something so big. It is inspiring to make a difference, even if it is just to raise your hand in class. I never heard of this movement before, so it was nice learning about it because this might be something my students struggle with and now I know the perfect book to go along with it.

[Readersaurus · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for content and concept.

This is an important book to share with kids. Many kids are scared of being ridiculed for answering a question wrong in class. Tapper's story, and the Girl Scout badge she helped get started, encourage kids to participate and to understand that no one is right every time, and getting things wrong is a normal part of the learning process.

I didn't like Marta Kissi's illustrations - all button noses, gigantic eyes, and big teeth - but that's just personal preference.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book encourages young girls to be confident in themselves as Alice motivates her friends and herself to raise their hands in class. She does this by creating a badge the girls in her girl scout troop can earn by being brave and raising their hands. The books discusses the struggles that gender stereotypes place on children and how they can combat those. Overall I thought this was a really cute, but powerful book - especially considering it was written by an 11 year old, making it very relatable for kids. I think students would feel very empowered after reading this.

[T Crockett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book addresses an important issue in a relatable way, probably because it was written by a kid rather than an adult. It's a great book to have for a Social Emotional Learning lesson. It's also a good book to read with a child who is shy or troubled by self doubt. It's also a great reminder that a good idea can come from anywhere, no matter the person's age.

The book has a clear message, so it's not one you're likely to pick up night after night to read, but it's much more entertaining than most SEL related books.

[Gabriela Suchecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raise Your Hand by Alice Paul Tapper is an inspirational book. The main character Alice notices that the girls were not participating in her class as much as boys. That makes her think that if she even should be raising her hand. She even wrote about it to the New York Times. Alice inspired the girls to be brave, to have courage and believe in themselves. She knew that she had to take the challenge and to raise her hand. This book encourages the reader to believe in themselves. This book is for readers k-2 grade level. I would read this book in my class during the read aloud session.

[Keri Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must have for the elementary collection. Written by 6th grader Alice, the book chronicles her emotional journey of empowering herself and other girls to speak up in school even when feeling intimidated or insecure. She created a Girl Scout “Raise Your Hand” pledge and patch program. Alice is a wonderful inspiration! Although catalogued for nonfiction, I will place it in the everybody section.

[Josephine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a feminist story about the “Raise Your Hand” patch in girl scouts. It was written by the girl who made the patch, a sixth grader named Alice (the illustrations look a lot like her, too). It teaches kids, especially girls, not to be afraid to answer questions in class, even if they’re not 100% sure they have the right answer. This book fosters growth mindset and teaches kids that even they can create something new, write a book, and impact the world.

[Emily Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Raise Your Hand" is an amazing book about female empowerment in school. Based off the authors own experience in school, she got the Girl Scouts to make a patch that pushes girls to raise their hands in school and ask questions. This book will inspire all readers, but especially girls to speaks their mind and be inquisitive. The illustrations are also amazing and work well to help tell the story. This is a problem that many girls have faced in schools and many have not known what to do. This book answers that questions as well as inspires girls to do more!