The Hope Chest

By: Karen Schwabach

Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer

Violet Mayhew is a proper young lady—who's on the run from her parents!

Eleven-year-old Violet has one goal in mind when she runs away from home: to find her sister, Chloe. Violet’s parents say Chloe has turned into the "wrong sort of person," but Violet knows better. The only problem is that Chloe’s not in New York anymore. She's moved on to Tennessee, where she's fighting for women's right to vote. As Violet's journey grows longer, her single-minded pursuit of reuniting with her sister changes. Before long she is standing side-by-side with her new friends—suffragists, socialists, and colored people—the type of people her parents would not approve of. But if Violet’s becoming the "wrong sort of person," why does it feel just right? This stirring depiction of the very end of the women's suffrage battle in America is sure to please readers who like their historical fiction fast-paced and action-packed. American Girls fans will fall hard for Violet and her less-than-proper friends.

A perfect Common Core tie-in, The Hope Chest is a New York State curriculum title for fourth grade.

A nice glimpse into women's fight to vote

I read this book because it is one of the required text for the 4th grade literacy unit. I enjoy historical fiction but, for some reason, I did not look forward to reading this book. My feeling quickly fleeted. This is a good read. The author did a wonderful job conveying the emotion around in the fight against the "antis" and "Suffs" as the Susan B. Anthony amendment tries to pass. I appreciated that this was not the only historical focus. There was discussion of segregation and the treatment of blacks during this time as well as men's beliefs about women during this time. The descriptive language is not very rich but there are multiple moments in the text where the author uses words that make you pause and check your own understanding. This is a great book to introduce children to the fight people underwent to get women the right to vote.

Nice, Reed 

Overall, very nice story. Good performance. A good way to teach kids about history. I read this because my daughter read it in the fourth grade and she is not a person who likes reading. It is the only book she has ever told me she enjoyed.

An entertaining way to experience history!

This book was amazing! It covers an important time in American history. While I was reading this book I also had some very informative conversations with family about life experiences. It is amazing to see that some of the same debates are happening now. And the influenza parallels what we are dealing with in the pandemic!

Such a great history lesson!

We have been listening to The Hope Chest as a family on our drives in the car. This was such a great story, it kept the kids captivated and begging for another chapter! It also does a marvelous job of teaching a very important history lesson to them on how women win back the vote!