Ride for Rights by Tara Chevrestt

Blurb: 

In the summer of 1916 women do not have the right to vote, let alone be motorcycle dispatch riders. Two sisters, Angeline and Adelaide Hanson are determined to prove to the world that not only are women capable of riding motorbikes, but they can ride motorbikes across the United States. Alone.

From a dance hall in Chicago to a jail cell in Dodge City, love and trouble both follow Angeline and Adelaide on the dirt roads across the United States. The sisters shout their triumph from Pike’s Peak only to end up lost in the Salt Lake desert.

Will they make it to their goal of Los Angeles or will too many mishaps prevent them from reaching their destination and thus, hinder their desire to prove that women can do it? 

Review: 

I bought this book as a summer read for my granddaughter, but we could not load it onto her Kindle, as her USB port was messed up, so I ended up reading it, and I'm glad I did.  According to the foreword, written by Bob Van Buren, this book is based on the story of Augusta and Adeline Van Buren who actually made the arduous journey portrayed here.  Of course, this is a novel, so the Van Burens may not have faced exactly the same challenges as the Hanson sisters, but they did pave the way for many of the freedoms we women take for granted today.

Angeline and Adelaide Hanson are proper young women who come from a wealthy family in New York.  Well, proper except that they're suffragists.  There's a war going on in Europe and despite President Wilson's protests that the United States intends to keep out of it, the sisters believe our country needs to be prepared to enter the skirmish.  Angeline sees a way to really serve, when a man at a National Preparedness Movement meeting proposes women ride motorbikes as dispatch couriers. They do so in Europe.  Why not in America?  As the men in the room pooh-pooh the suggestion, Angeline stands  up and makes a proposal of her own.  If a woman can ride a motorbike across America, wouldn't that prove she could serve as a dispatch courier?  Fortunately, their brother has just bought one, so she's able to start her riding lessons that day.  Thus begins the adventure.

Ride for Rights is a short book since it's aimed at the young adult audience, but the characters are fully drawn, engaging young women.  They're well-bred, but feisty and independent, fighting for what they believe in.  Along the way they encounter love and overcome hardship, working at various jobs to earn money for gas and accommodations.  In some places they're able to stay with relatives or acquaintances; in others their bed and board is less than stellar.  I couldn't put the book down.  It was a great read, and educational.  I highly recommend it for you, your daughters, and your granddaughters—whatever their ages. 

Length:  135 Pages 

Price:  $5.50 

Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museityoung/historical-fiction-2013-07-28/ride-for-rights-detail 

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement. 

Thanks for visiting.  RIW