Valentines for All: Esther Howland Captures America's Heart

by Nancy Churnin, Monika Róza Wisniewska (Illustrator)

Overview

How an enterprising woman helped establish a tradition that Americans still observe today.

When Esther Howland first saw the fancy valentine her father brought home from England, most Americans thought Valentine's Day was a waste of time. But through the card, Esther felt how much her father loved her. Could she help others express themselves in the same way?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807567111
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nancy Churnin is the award-winning author of multiple picture book biographies. The former theater critic for the Dallas Morning News and Los Angeles Times San Diego Edition, she's now a full-time writer and peace negotiator between her dog and cats. She lives in North Texas.

Monika Róża Wiśniewska is a Polish illustrator living in Porto, Portugal. She studied traditional graphics at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, where she got her master’s degree. Monika has worked with many publishers worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

"A Valentine’s Day gift to ambitious youngsters."—Kirkus Reviews

"A welcome addition to elementary school libraries that would be a great story time read-aloud for Valentine’s Day."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2023-10-21
A look at the woman who revolutionized Valentine’s Day.

Churnin has covered famous subjects, as in Martin & Anne (2019), and more obscure ones, such as Eliza Davis in Dear Mr. Dickens (2021); here she focuses on one of America’s first professional women. Inspired after her father brought her a valentine from England, Esther Howland (1828-1904) created handmade cards with personalized notes. She had the smarts to brand her cards, develop an assembly line, and build her cottage industry into a successful business—one that gave women the opportunity to work outside the home. When the Civil War started, Howland assumed that few would be interested in her cards, but her business thrived as women sent messages to loved ones on the front lines. Churnin notes that after a fall, Howland used a wheelchair for the rest of her life. On every page, readers will find a roses-are-red-type rhyme inscribed inside a basic heart; some verses are as feeble or stretched as their 19th-century counterparts could be, but they are a unifying conceit. Simplified pastel costumes convey a sense of 19th-century dress; women of color are portrayed sitting alongside white women making cards, and Black soldiers are depicted in Union blue. The printing press illustrated here belongs to a much earlier time. Howland’s business acumen, creative artistry, and persistence are good reasons to celebrate her, though her actual, elaborate cards, some in museum collections, far surpass the plain depictions shown here.

A Valentine’s Day gift to ambitious youngsters. (author’s note; writing encouragement) (Picture-book biography. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews