Who Was Harriet Beecher Stowe?

Who Was . . . ? Series

by Dana Meachen Rau, Who H.Q., Gregory Copeland (Illustrator)

Born in Connecticut in 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist, author, and playwright. Slavery was a major industry in the American South, and Stowe worked with the Underground Railroad to help escaped slaves head north towards freedom.

The publication of her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a scathing anti-slavery novel, fanned the flames that started the Civil War. The book’s emotional portrayal of the impact of slavery captured the nation’s attention.

A best-seller in its time, Uncle Tom’s Cabin sealed Harriet Beecher Stowe’s reputations as one of the most influential anti-slavery voices in US history.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Childrens, Historical, Audiobook, Civil War

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2015

About the author

Dana Meachen Rau is an author, editor, and illustrator of children's books. She has written more than 100 books for children, many of them nonfiction in subjects including astronomy, history, and geography, as well as numerous biographies. She lives in Burlington, Connecticut, with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Felipe Alfaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing impact one woman and one book can have!! I have always dreamed of becoming a writer, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, along with Anne Frank and Helen Keller, is one of my chief inspirations to do so.
Each and every one of us has the power to change the world. This may be the age of the “keyboard warrior”, but don’t think your message is meaningless.
If one woman living in the mid-19th century could mobilize a nation against a horrible injustice, certainly a YouTuber, Facebook Live user, photographer or “keyboard warrior” can change the world today. We’ve seen it happen already multiple times in recent years.
Be like Stowe. If you have something to say, say it! Don’t let the mass of naysayers silence you!! No authority on Earth can legitimately dismiss what you have to say if you really have the evidence, the logical reasoning and the conviction to demonstrate it. Just makes sure to do your research first.

[Jaymie · Rating 4 out of 5]

❤️

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who Was Harriet Beecher Stowe by Dana Meacham Rau provides a great overview of her life and her most well known book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have read her book and, while it is still controversial today for different reasons, it was considered shocking when it was first published. She was an active abolitionist and many credit her book with heightening the emotions and focusing the attention on the evils of slavery; it may have also contributed to bringing about the start of the American Civil War. She was a staunch supporter of many other causes including those intended to improve women’s lives.

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am 12 years old and I found this book to be more of a third grade read than a 6th grade, but I learned about a person in history who wrote a good book. I wish the book was more about her life as an adult instead of her childhood, but I still learned some new things about her (probably because before I hadn't known anything about her in the first place). I would recommend this read to 2nd-4th grade students and I'm in 6th grade. Even though it felt like it was at a younger level, it helped me learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. So if you're a teacher, I would recommend you to have your student read this book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series, it does such a good job!

I had no idea that Harriet wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin as kind of a peace offering to the South. The kind owners were southerners; the brutal murderous Legree was a Northerner. She originally published it in serial form and a lot of the incidents were based on things that actually happened.

Her book was a hit in the western world, especially in England, where slavery had been illegalized in the 1830s.

Anyway: interesting read and gulped down in about 60 minutes.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harriet was an interesting woman and so lucky that during her childhood she was treated the same as her brothers and allowed to do and dream big things. I love that she went to her sister's school for a year and then was a teacher there. What an interesting time that must have been to teach students so close in age to her. She also seems to have had a wonderful home life as an adult. I didn't know that she wrote a second abolitionist novel after Uncle Tom's Cabin. An inspirational woman.

[Victoria B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid biography in the Who Was series, this book tells about the life of author Harriet Beecher Stowe, famous for Uncle Tom's Cabin (and more). The numerous included illustrations facilitate the story (however, it does seem that this book contains more illustrations than the average Who Was book, possibly due to lack of content about the subject).

A good read for 3rd-6th graders.

[David Rough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this concise biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is written for young readers, but I found it meet my inquiries concerning this influential author. This read has motivated me to read Uncle Tom's Cabin, a classic work of fiction that I missed (probably avoided because I was not a reader growing up) in my early education.

[Hailey Vittrup · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows the boldness that Harriet Beecher Stowe had- in her beliefs and in her efforts to end slavery. This is a well-written book that paints her impact in a positive light. The earlier part of the book is a little harsh when it comes to peoples’ faith, but the book ultimately shows that Harriet’s faith in God was strong. Her life was not easy, but it was a life well lived.

[Angelica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Biography/ Historical Nonfiction

Copyright Date: 2015

A wonderful biography on the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Students can use these books in history class to learn about influential and inspirational people. Grades 3-8

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The woman who started a war with her book was very active all of her life in trying to end slavery in America. This book shows how she progressed from a little girl reading whatever she could in her father's library to a busy writer through the end of her life.

[Nadia L. Hohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wanted to know more about Harriet Beecher Stowe other than she wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. This book gave me the information I sought. I learned more about the impact her book and work had on the abolitionist movement as well as her private life.

[Goddess of Chaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Her words helped inspire people to change. Her story helped bring an end to slavery..."

This book does a nice job of exploring the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and providing context for her writing, most notably Uncle Tom's Cabin.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

We read this book as part of school assignments. It was informative but I think reading Uncle Tom's Cabin would have been more informative. Obviously this was more a biography than on the topic of slavery.

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that she wanted to end slavery just like me, and she loved books, just like me!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe an influential writer in the anti slavery movement. a woman ahead of her time. elementary and up

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know much about Harriet except that she wrote Uncle Tom's cabin. I learned so much more. Nice to read a story about a strong woman.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun addition to having the kids read Uncle Tom's Cabin during the Civil War chapters in history.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview for middle school readers.

[Karthika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and quick biography. Awesome illustrations

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story. I really didn't realize what a great woman this lady was.

[Charlie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this woman!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid primer for Uncle Tom's Cabin background.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book really told me about the cival war.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear and superbly written book. Everyone needs to give this a read.

[Charlotte🫶]

Doing a research project on her for school so I had to read this😅

[Reving · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://revingsblog.blogspot.com/2018/...

[Carley Trumbower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informational, historical, published in 2014
This is a great approachable novel for students to read and I’m so happy to see this amazing woman being talked about because her story is often glossed over in social studies classes. This would be a great book to assign for reading groups and to have kids discuss the affect Harriet had on society and how we still she the affects of her hard efforts today!

[Lauren Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

(April Book Report) I have recently read Who Was Harriet Beecher Stowe by Dana Meachen Rau. This book is nonfiction and the setting ranges from a bunch of different states in the United States, including Nut Plains, Connecticut, Litchfield, Connecticut, New England, and Cincinnati, Ohio, all in the time frame of 1811-1896. Some of the main characters are Harriet Beecher Stowe, who is the main character and a woman who fought again slavery and wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, her highly religious father Reverend Lyman Beecher, Harriet's older sister Catharine Beecher, and Calvin E. Stowe, who was Harriet's husband. They also had many kids as well. Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of the most important people in the process of the abolition of slavery. Harriet grew up in a large family, with her mother deceased, however she still grew up loving reading and writing. As she grew older, she got married to Calvin E. Stowe and they had many children. Harriet was shocked of the topic of slavery, and vowed to write about it, in hopes of its end. Her first, most important, and most popular book was called Uncle Tom's Cabin. It told of the horrific tales of slavery, and became very popular. Throughout the rest of her life, Harriet continued to rally against slavery, and write about it as well. Harriet Beecher Stowe died in 1896 at 85 years old. Overall, she was a very successful woman who inspired many people, and worked to abolish the horrible use of slavery. I rated this book a 5/5 stars because it had a ton of information in it, but it was still really interesting and inspiring.

[Tyler H · Rating 5 out of 5]

November
Who Was Harriet Beecher Stowe?
Dana Meachen Rau

Harriet Beecher Stowe grew up in a famous, and very large, religious family in Litchfield, CT. Harriet enrolled in different academies for young women growing up. Because of this, Harriet became one of the smartest children in her family, and she would rise to become one of the greatest slavery abolitionists that existed. She wrote many books against the Fugitive Slave Act, a law passed in the 1850's that made life very hard for slaves. Her most popular book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, sparked the rise of the abolitionists during slavery. She became a very famous figure in the fight against slavery.

After reading this book, I only found one main theme that repeated itself throughout the book. The theme was that "you can always find a new beginning." In this book, Harriet struggled many times during her life when tragedy struck. For example, when her newborn baby died of cholera, she went to a new city to escape the sadness of her old home. She found new things to do in different places to escape the grief that her life was filled with for many years. During these times, she found those new beginnings, and started off from there. This is how I know that the theme of this book is that "you can always find new beginnings."