Nellie vs. Elizabeth

Bank Street Best Book of the Year

“In this swiftly paced picture book adventure, Hannigan traces the 1889–1890 circumnavigation of the globe undertaken by two intrepid women journalists…In acrylic inks and colored pencil, Gibbon provides brightly colored, intricately doodle-like accompaniment as numbered spreads portray the women’s impressively conveyed journeys.” —Publishers Weekly

“On November 18, 1889, two journalists left New York separately, each determined to circle the globe. Few women worked as journalists, and fewer would have dared to take such a difficult journey alone….the journalists’ travels made the world seem smaller, while demonstrating the capabilities of women….Varied in composition, the mixed-media artwork illustrates the travelers’ experiences and their times effectively. A spirited, historical picture book.” —Booklist

“Two creative, energetic women set out on an around-the-world journalists’ dream assignment in this book….The pages are colorful and have lovely landmarks of the locations Bly and Bisland pass through during their travels….This empowering…[and] unusual story with its driven women and epic tour belongs on the biography shelves, but the adventure shelves, too.” —School Library Journal

“The real-life story of two intrepid female journalists and their competition to circumnavigate the globe. Hannigan recounts the hair-raising, breakneck race, including the challenges each women faced—seasickness, late ships, surly sailors, and more…The acrylic ink and colored pencil illustrations are colorful with fine details. …[T]here’s much to love in this historic tale of female derring-do.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Hannigan’s text and Gibbon’s ink and colored pencil illustrations…effectively compare and contrast the personalities of the racers. A host of brief, breathless quotations from periodicals, commentators, and the subjects themselves offer insight into how the race was experienced by late nineteenth-century media consumers. An author’s note alerts readers that the staged frenemy coverage masked just how much Bly and Bisland had in common, from obstacles both faced as women working in male-dominated journalism to their deaths by pneumonia and their interments in the same cemetery. Also included are brief biographies of ten female investigative journalists from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, a chatty note by Gibbons on her research, and a bibliography.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books