Maria Russo reviews Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass in the February 14 issue of the New York Times Book Review.
A visit by Frederick Douglass to the home of Susan B. Anthony is at the center of this charming book about the intersections of women’s rights and African-American rights. Robbins presents the two struggles as different but parallel — each historical figure wonders why their kind can’t have “the right to live free. The right to vote.” On a snowy afternoon, they sit down to a cozy tea-and-cake in front of a fire and promise “to help each other” fight for justice. The husband-and-wife illustration team of Qualls and Alko blend lovely, lush painting and an elegant layer of text art, with regal streams of smudgy handwritten words and snippets of vintage print.
