Fearless Mary: Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver

by Tami Charles (Author) Claire Almon (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
A little-known but fascinating and larger-than-life character, Mary Fields is one of the unsung, trailblazing African American women who helped settle the American West. A former slave, Fields became the first African American woman stagecoach driver in 1895, when, in her 60s, she beat out all the cowboys applying for the job by being the fastest to hitch a team of six horses. She won the dangerous and challenging job, and for many years traveled the badlands with her pet eagle, protecting the mail from outlaws and wild animals, never losing a single horse or package. Fields helped pave the way for other women and people of color to become stagecoach drivers and postal workers.
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Kirkus Reviews

From the moment Mary rides into town, readers will be hooked...A wild ride through an impressive bit of history.

Booklist

This picture-book biography reimagines Mary's successful tryout against younger white cowboys to become the first African American female stagecoach driver in the country.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2—This adventure-packed account set in 1895 Cascade, MT, centers on Mary Fields, a former slave and the first African American woman to drive a stagecoach. The author's note discusses the lack of available information on Fields—hence, the book reads more like a composite of Fields than a precise biography. Nonetheless, this story offers a much-needed correction to the often whitewashed history of the American West. Almon's full-color illustrations are soft, rounded, and appropriately child-friendly. VERDICT A worthy purchase for libraries serving young children and for classroom lessons on U.S. history, bravery, and overcoming adversity.—Kate Olson, Bangor School District, WI

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

 
Tami Charles
Tami Charles is the New York Times bestselling author of All Because You Matter and numerous books for children and young adults. Her middle grade debut, Like Vanessa, earned three starred reviews and a Junior Library Guild selection. Her latest titles include young adult novel in verse, Muted, which was a BuzzFeed Top 40 pick for 2021; lyrical picture book We Are Here; and a picture book biography about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. When Tami isn't writing, she can be found presenting at schools both stateside and abroad. For more info, you can follow Tami on Twitter @TamiWritesStuff or Instagram @TamiWrites.

Jemma Skidmore is a dyslexic, mixed-race illustrator who grew up in rural Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. Although she wasn't a confident early reader, she has always been fascinated by the art of storytelling. Jemma studied fine art at Falmouth University and has gone on to work in print, film, and television in London and Vancouver, British Columbia. She has now returned to Gloucestershire, where she lives with her family and a cat named Blue.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780807523056
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Albert Whitman & Company
Publication date
January 20, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF007050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Cultural Heritage
JNF018010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JNF007120 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Women
JNF025180 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/State & Local
Library of Congress categories
African Americans
Biographies
Women
Frontier and pioneer life
Montana
African American pioneers
Women pioneers
Letter carriers
Coach drivers
Fields, Mary

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