Kip Tiernan and Rosie's Place, the Nation's First Shelter for Women
December 13, 2021
McDonnell, a former educator at Boston’s Rosie’s Place, the first women’s shelter in the U.S., spotlights Mary Jane “Kip” Tiernan (1926–2011), raised during the Great Depression by her grandmother, whose selflessness inspired Tiernan to care deeply about addressing housing insecurity. Interspersed with quotes, the book tracks Tiernan’s feats in brisk prose that uses outmoded language: “Just as her grandmother had helped people during the Depression, Kip was determined to help these homeless women.... Again and again, she heard this answer: homelessness isn’t a women’s problem.” Tiernan’s frustration with the lack of resources would eventually lead her to open Rosie’s Place in 1974, as well as help found many of Boston’s aid programs. Tentler-Krylov contributes fluid, atmospheric illustrations, rendered in watercolor and digital media, that portray figures of varying ability, age, skin tone, and size, underscoring Tiernan’s mission to help all in this compassionate narrative about the ambitious, accomplished social activist. Back matter includes more about Kip Tiernan and the Great Depression. Ages 7–10.