Blog Tour for Jessie: Queen of the Road by Lindsay Ward

Author/Illustrator: Lindsay Ward
Pub. Date: January 31, 2023

Review:

Like in its companion book, Rosie: Stronger Than Steel, Ward’s  Jessie: Queen of the Road makes early 20th century history accessible to elementary age children. Jessie, the main character, is a motorcycle racing through the streets of New York City. When she chastised for acting unladylike, Jessie is empowered to prove her strength.

Jessie makes a promise to herself with this oath which she repeats throughout the story.

Fast and strong,
I won’t be slowed!
In rain or shine,
I’ll forge my road.

Her perseverance pays off, for Jessie became the first female motorcycle to cross the country. Feeling unstoppable, Jessie signed up for the US Army as a courier. When she was denied for being a female, did Jessie rest her wheels? Absolutely not! She kept motoring and met other female motorcycles which propelled her passion.

In Nashville, Jessie joined the Johnny Jones Exposition defying gravity performing The Wall of Death. After many performances across the country, Jessie crashed and burned. While she was rebuilt by strong women, Jessie chanted her oath and when war broke out again, the army welcomed her with open arms. Vindication!

Inspired by female motorcyclists, the Van Buren sisters, Dorothy Rice, Effie and Avis Hotchkiss, Bessie Stringfield, Olive Hager, and Ward’s own mother, Jessie: Queen of the Road is a story that teaches us to be bold in the pursuit of our dreams. Ward’s lyrical text and her anthropomorphic Jessie will pull in young readers to better understand the uphill battle that women faced to gain equality.  

Praise for Jessie! 

“A spunky tribute to early twentieth-century female adventurers.”
—Booklist

About the Author/Illustrator:

Lindsay Ward is the creator of the Dexter T. Rexter series as well as Rosie: Stronger than Steel, Between the Lines, This Book Is Gray, Brobarians, Rosco vs. the Baby, and The Importance of Being 3. Her book Please Bring Balloons was also made into a play. Lindsay lives with her family in Peninsula, Ohio. Learn more about her online at www.lindsaymward.com.