Well-organized and engagingly told story of a strong woman.

Author Barb Rosenstock and illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley tell the story of Abigail Adams, an outspoken, self-educated 18th-century American woman who became the wife of Founding Father and second president John Adams in this somewhat flawed picture-book biography. Despite the expectations of her day, when it came to the proper behavior of women and girls, Abigail was never quiet and meek, choosing instead to be engaged with the world around her, and the events in it. After her marriage to Adams, a poor country lawyer at the time, she became a hard-working wife and mother, often helping her husband with his cases, and moving their household, as the need arose. She managed the family farm when Adams was away during the Revolutionary War, and was an important source of information and advice for him. She joined him in Europe after the war, when he served as ambassador to France, and then England, and she became the second First Lady, when Adams became president. She was the first First Lady to live in the White House, and remained deeply involved in her husband's work. Although not a feminist in the modern sense, she was an early advocate for woman's rights, and was an inspiration to generations of women to come...

As someone who was named after Abigail Adams - I was born in 1976, on the bicentennial of American independence, and my parents wished to name me after a strong woman from the revolutionary generation - I picked up Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams with great interest. I have read quite a bit about the Adams family over the years - because of my name, I have often been gifted with books about Abigail and John Adams, from childhood onward - and was curious to see what this new book would have to say. Unfortunately, despite its good qualities, the book had a number of flaws which prevented me from taking it entirely to heart. The narrative captures the idea that Abigail Adams was atypical, of the women of her generation, but because it is aiming to emphasize its subject as an inspirational figure, it sometimes overplays its hand a bit. Yes, Adams went against expectations in many respects, but in others, her actions were quite common for her time and place - necessitated by the events of the day. When the narrative informs us that "everyone knew that a woman couldn't manage a farm alone," and then proceeds to describe how Abigail did it anyway, it implies that this was quite unusual. This seems to run counter to the reality that, when men were absent - whether through death, or through service in the Colonial militias before the Revolution, or with/against the Continental Army during that conflict - all farmers' wives would have had to manage on their own. This must surely have also been a reality in many other times and places throughout history. The reader gets the sense that, because Rosenstock has a particular didactic aim here - to emphasize just how atypical Adams was, in order to show her as an early American exemplar of female competence and power - she has flattened history out a bit. This impression was solidified for me by the absence of any mention of Mercy Otis Warren, the published poet, playwright and political commentator who was a friend of Abigail Adams, and who was another unusual woman of the revolutionary period. Warren may not have been a major part of Adams' life, but as a personal friend and correspondent who was also quite atypical for the women of the period, one would think that her life could present an interesting parallel to that of Abigail Adams. I was therefore surprised not to see her name, even if only in the back matter, and again came away with the impression that the historical narrative was being simplified, in order to drive home the book's central message that its subject was wholly unique, amongst the women of her generation.

Another omission that greatly surprised me in Rosenstock's narrative, was the total absence of John Quincy Adams, John and Abigail Adams' oldest son, who served as an ambassador to Russia, and then to Britain, and who became the sixth president of the United States. As influential as Abigail was, in the life of her husband, she must surely have also been influential in the life and development of her son, who became a national leader, and an important part of American history. One would think that this would therefore deserve at least a mention in a book devoted to her legacy, but the name John Quincy Adams does not appear anywhere in the book, in either the main narrative, or in the back matter. While Rosenstock does acknowledge in her afterword that Abigail Adams had a conventional view of women and their place in the world - a place that involved being a wife and mother - it's clear that she has sought to downplay that view, perhaps because it was not atypical enough to suit the tone of her book. This sense of history being overwhelmed by the didactic aim and editorial stance of the author can also be seen in the list of women that Rosenstock considers the inheritors of Adams' legacy, a list which seems to exclude any women of conservative political or social leanings. I was particularly disappointed to see that Linda Sarsour, who has been rightly criticized for her antisemitic behavior, made the list.

Although I really like the idea of a book celebrating the legacy of Abigail Adams, and although I found some of the storytelling here engaging, in the end I found Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams mostly wanting, as a biography. The accompanying artwork from illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley, done in the form of a cross stitch sampler, was probably the best thing about this one, and elevated it from a two to a three-star title. Still, I'm not sure I would strongly recommend this one, unless the adult reader is willing to read with the child, and explain that history was just a bit more complicated than it is made out to be here, and that Adams, as admirable as she truly was, was just a bit less unusual. ( )

strong girl;strong women
Abigail Adams was not a typical woman of the time. ( )

Deeply informative, cleverly organized and paced in the style of a cross-stitch sampler typical of Abigail Adams' time, Leave It To Abigail is a biography of a unique, self-educated, confident, scrappy girl and woman who complied with some norms of her era but defied others. She learned all of the necessary farm tasks, but also taught herself through reading and writing. After marrying John, she often lived apart from him, raising their children and managing their farm and finances, always writing him letters (advising him to "Remember the Ladies"). She met many other famous revolutionaries and politicians and became First Lady herself.

Back matter includes author's note, artist's note, selected sources. ( )