Her Name Was Mary Katharine: The Only Woman Whose Name Is on the Declaration of Independence

K-Gr 3–Mary Katharine Goddard grew up in the colony of Connecticut, under British rule. After her father died, her older brother began a newspaper, but William “wasn’t the best newspaper owner,” and loyal Katharine spent her life running the paper he started and abandoned, printing patriotic articles against Britain’s unfair treatment of the colonies. The title serves as the beginning of a refrain: “Her name was Mary Katharine and she had an important job to do.” One of her important jobs was printing the Declaration of Independence, upon which she included her whole name instead of her usual initials. Detailed but static watercolor and digital illustrations look appropriately old-fashioned. With a glossary and selected sources, the back matter also includes an author’s note which describes the later years of Mary Katharine’s life and reveals that she had an enslaved person, whom she freed upon her death.