Recommended Ages: Gr. 3-5

Plot Summary:

Setting: Kate approached Allan Pinkerton, a detective in Chicago, asking to be hired. She claimed that a woman could get answers very easily because no one would suspect. She was hired and proved herself important when she quickly got a couple to admit where they were hiding their stolen money. Eventually, she was asked to work on keeping Abraham Lincoln safe as he traveled from Illinois to DC. She heard rumors of threats in Baltimore, so Kate and her boss worked together to secretly get Lincoln out of Baltimore and to DC safely. This type of work is essentially what the secret service do now.

Characters:

Recurring Themes: detective, women in the field, women at work, lying, undercover, secrets, deception

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: The part that is super intriguing to me is that we don't actually know much about Kate as a person. She died at 38 yo, likely from pneumonia, and there isn't much real information about her. However, her role as a precursor to the secret service is fascinating and has potential to bring about interesting discussion about whether it's okay to deceive someone in order to get the truth. The writing is engaging and tells the story without speaking down to the reader. Larger vocabulary is used: obtaining, widow, society parties, assumed, befriend -- and that's just on the first few pages.

Genre: picture book biography

Pacing: fast, about 5-8 sentences per double page spread
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

I like reading about Kate Warne, but I wasn't a fan of the illustrations in this book. ( )

Reads like an adventure story!! ( )

As anybody who knows me is aware, I am not a fan of picture book biographies. However, I went into this one thoroughly prepared to enjoy it, since I was excited about having more information on Kate Warne.

Unfortunately, I ended up not liking it after all, and not just because it was a picture book biography.

Kate Warne was the first female detective hired by Allan Pinkerton. She collects information at tea parties and by telling fortunes. Then the Civil War begins and Kate's work takes on a dangerous turn. She intercepts a plot to assassinate President Lincoln and works with Pinkerton to save the president's life. Kate Warne continued to work for Pinkerton and was publicized as the first female police detective after her death.

An author's note mentions the lack of information about Kate Warne and a few more brief notes about her life as well as a short bibliography.

While I appreciate the lack of information to work with and the limits of the picture book biography, this felt very sketchy. I was skeptical of the dialogue given to some of the characters; it definitely lent an historical fiction feel to the book. Most of all, I disliked the art. It's sweet and cute and gorgeous - and completely unsuited to the story of a woman making her way in a man's world in the gritty Civil War era. All the characters, including background characters, are pasteboard white and look about sixteen. There is a lot of vibrant colors in the dresses, something I doubt Warne would have had as a poor widow working for a pittance.

Verdict: I'm not generally a fan of picture book biographies to start with, but I felt that this one didn't even make much of an effort to be historically accurate. It's awesome to have more women in history, but I had hoped for something better. Not recommended.

ISBN: 9780807541173; Published 2016 by Albert Whitman; Borrowed from another library in my consortium