2: for those uneducated in the excelence of women's successes
I picked up this book, interested in some of the photographs on the front cover. Immediatley, when I opened it, I was drawn into the book. It had fabulous graphics and layout. I paged through first, reading little bits of information that interested me. That was really the extent of my experience with the book, until I recently sat down with it and decided the read through it all. I found it absoulutely intriguing. I read every "mini-biography" and after I was done, I went to find out more information about the amazing women I had just been introduced to. My curiousity lead me to fantatic discoveries, but what displeased me was the short extent of people that this book covered. Only briefly did it cover the suffragist movement, and other important events in AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY. Although I know that Americans are not everything, we were pioneers in freeing women from cultural and social restrictions.
This was a great introduction to a broad topic. I reccommend it to young girls that do not realize the extent of what their great sex can do, but also to boys. I believe that they,too, should be introduced to the fact that men and women are equal. It doesn't cover everything, but it may lead you to great things.
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3: Excellent material for growing strong women.
I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for the youngest daughter of a friend of the family. I was looking for something I knew her mother would never buy her, something that would make her learn about women as unique and wonderful human creatures. I stumbled across this book and was attracted to its magazine-style layout, with photos and blurbs in sidebars as well as a main, brief narrative on each of the diverse women profiled. It drew me in immediately - in fact before I wrapped it, I had read it myself! It also offers, in the sidebars, ways for girls to start imagining themselves in roles like those of the women written about, but without that cheesy condescending tone of voice that so many educational books written by adults for kids take. The book offers women throughout history, many of whom may not be known to adults (!), who achieved much on their own. Artists, politicians, soldiers, writers, inventors and businesswomen all are represented. The text avoids serious revolutionaries, which is, I think, age-appropriate. The book is targeted for girls and boys ages 12-14, and it fits well within those age groups, using colorful layout and a conversational tone to talk about these "cool women." This isn't the text to choose for your burdgeoning Socialist, as many of the women celebrated within its pages are female entrepreneurs and monarchs (all, arguably, quite rightly chosen by the editors). However, many of the stories also chronicle women who rise from adversity, giving it a real sense of balance. One might also argue that there is a smattering of racial and ethnic tokenism at work, but I choose to view it as merely an attempt to speak of at least one woman from each group as promotion of multiculturalism (of depth) rather than tokenism (for appearances only). All in all, this book is an excellent tool for teaching young women about the valuable contributions their sisters before them made, and what they too can hope to accomplish. Highly recommended.
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