Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing, selected and introduced by Tonya Bolden

Strong Voices shares fifteen great American speeches from men and women throughout America’s history.

Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing, selected and introduced by Tonya Bolden, illustrated by Eric Velasquez. HarperCollins, 2020. 128 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended For: Ages 10 and up (note considerations!)

“The Gettysburg Address.” “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” “We Choose to Go to the Moon.” These are familiar to most students of American history. But what about Lou Gehrig’s farewell to baseball? Or Hilary Clinton’s speech to the UN about women’s rights? Or Fanny Lou Hamer’s impassioned plea for voting rights? Beginning with Patrick Henry’s famous speech and progressing right through to Hilary Clinton, Bolden introduces each orator in turn and offers up a (sometimes abridged) famous speech. Velasquez’s paintings make these famous men and women leap off the page; his paintings alone are worth checking this book out from your library.

While I would have wished to see Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech included, the rest are all excellent and noteworthy examples of American oratory through the centuries and are worth knowing (or reading) for students seeking to understand our great country and its heritage more fully. Some speeches will have young Patriots rising up (such as Theodore Roosevelt’s speech). Others will cause readers to ponder, much as the original audience did for Frederick Douglass and Langston Hughes. Bolden’s introductory material is brief, but thorough; occasionally her word choice feels overly pointed (such as describing the “white, land-owning men” who gathered to protest the stamp taxes in Patrick Henry’s day), but she is describing true occasions and offers solid background information. Source notes are included should readers wish to look up fuller versions of some of the longer speeches. Note considerations below.

Considerations

• Parents and educators may wish to add in more/broader historic context to some speeches; additionally, these speeches represent a broad variety of political and ideological issues. They are good fodder for deeper discussion.
• Several speeches refer to more “adult” material; parents are especially advised to preview Fanny Lou Hamer’s speech and Hilary Clinton’s. This isn’t a book younger children are likely to read straight through on their own. It would be easy to pick and choose which speeches to read together.
• School assignment alert! Have students pick a speech to memorize. Have them perform it before a class or homeschool group. You might also consider having them do a bit more research on the speaker they choose.

Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 4.25 out of 5
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• A Review: So Tall Within by Gary D. Schmidt (about Sojourner Truth; scroll down)
• A Resource: Giant Presidents’ Day Book List
• A Resource: Patriotic Book List (a book list for all ages)

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