A writer works alone, putting words on the page, but creating a book is a team effort. It’s been a joy to work with a great team to bring this book to you:

Erica Moroz is the talented writer who adapted my adult history book, The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, into this edition for younger readers. Her translation is faithful, her writing vivid, and she gives a lively spin to this important historical story. My editors at Random House, Sara Sargent and Sasha Henriques, are delightful collaborators, offering their expertise, enthusiasm, and deadline diligence to keep this project on track. Illustrator Debbie Powell captures the story in gorgeous drawings and brings graphic excitement to these pages.

Every creative project begins with an idea, and the inspiration for transforming The Woman’s Hour into this book for young readers came from my brilliant literary agents, Dorian Karchmar and Jamie Carr at William Morris Endeavor Agency. Dorian guides my career as agent and enriches my life as friend; and it’s been a pleasure to watch Jamie’s literary career blossom, and now to partner with her on this project. I also want to thank my wise and witty editor at Viking/Penguin Random House, Wendy Wolf, for making The Woman’s Hour a book worth reading—and worth adapting into this edition. Just as excellent teachers and coaches push you to work harder to achieve your best, the great editors and agents do the same for their authors.

This book is based upon many months of research and thousands of documents, so I’d like to give a shout-out to the many librarians and archivists, scholars and historians who steered me to the materials I needed. I was able to add depth and detail to the story with the help of descendants and relatives of some of the characters in the story—their family papers and reminiscences were invaluable.

Writing a book takes years—and can feel lonely, all alone at the desk—so I am thankful to my family and friends for cheering me on and sharing this journey with me.

Finally, I’ve had the pleasure of writing about some of the most amazing women in American history—the suffragists. My heartfelt thanks to them for their skill, courage, and persistence in the struggle.

I hope this story inspires all of you to become activists for a broader and more inclusive democracy. And inspires you—very soon—to vote.