Rad women worldwide Artists and athletes, pirates and punks, and other revolutionaries who shaped history

Review by Booklist Review

A follow-up to Rad American Women A-Z (2015), this worldwide version is identical in format but more extensive in scope, profiling 39 boundary-busting women, including, poignantly, The Stateless, or the 60 million forcibly displaced people in the world, of whom almost 80 percent are women or children. There's no mistaking, or indeed faulting, the pro-feminist message of this book, which makes some of the hagiographic choices rather perplexing. (Are we really keen to have girls adopt violent pirates the book cites two as role models? Does Winnie Mandela deserve a nod in the appendix, which lists some 250 subjects for further study?) Still, the collection, with its stark black-and-white cut-paper illustrations, makes fascinating reading. Among the predictable (if commendable) miniprofiles Sor Juana, Miriam Makeba are strewn stories of other, undersung crusaders, some historical, some striving still. Readers of either gender could well find a role model in the India-born U.S. astronaut Kalpana Chawla, or in Wangari Maathai, whose Green Belt Movement in Africa resulted in the planting of more than 30 million environment-reviving trees.--MacDonald, Sandy Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this companion to the picture book Rad American Women A-Z, Schatz writes short biographies of 40 noteworthy female figures past and present; though the book is technically published for adults, the brief profiles are readily accessible to children and teens. The subjects include artists, writers, revolutionaries, musicians, scientists, and politicians: Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian woman in space; Kasha Jacqueline Nagabasera is a Ugandan LGBTQ-rights activist; Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a self-taught 17th-century scholar credited with writing "the first feminist text of the New World"; and Junko Tabei was a Japanese "housewife and mother" who became the first woman to climb the South Summit of Mt. Everest. Josephine Baker, Venus and Serena Williams, and Malala Yousafzai are among the better-known figures. As in the previous book, Stahl's cut-paper portraits provide handsome visual tributes to the women. Author's agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 6 Up-Schatz and Stahl present profiles of 40 extraordinary women from around the globe. The short biographies cover each woman's life and accomplishments and the great odds they faced. Coming from many continents and different time periods, all the women are portrayed as bold and heroic. There are subjects who lived thousands of years ago, such as the ancient Mesopotamian writer Enheduanna and Hatshepsut, the first and only female king of ancient Egypt. Included also are Grace "Granuaile" O'Malley, a 16th-century Irish sea captain; Berta and Nicolasa Quintreman, sisters belonging to the Mapuche people who inspired resistance against corporate destruction of land in 1980s Chile; and Sophie Scholl, who spoke out against the Nazis. A broad array of athletes, musicians, scientists, environmentalists, political activists, artists, and more create a vast tapestry of women's achievements and contributions to their individual societies and the world as a whole. Each profile includes a striking cut-paper portrait. The ending chapter, "The Stateless," is a call-and-response investigation of how the state of displaced peoples, refugees, and asylum seekers is a feminist issue. The call-and-response format oscillates between abstract thoughts ("What does it mean to be from a place? Or to be foreign? To belong, to not belong") and more formal, statistics-based answers ("Of the 60 million forcibly displaced people.almost 80 percent are women and children."). The volume concludes with a list, ordered alphabetically by country, of 250 additional women deemed exceptional. VERDICT This collection of energetic profiles is sure to spark discussion and encourage readers passionate about women's history and rights to do further research.-Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, Mt. Carmel © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Frida Kahlo July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954 (Coyoacán, Mexico) "I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint."   It seems like everyone today knows who Frida Kahlo is, but that wasn't always the case. Like so many women artists throughout history, Frida didn't gain the recognition she deserved until many years after her death. When she died in 1954, the New York Times obituary headline read "Frida Kahlo, Artist, Diego Rivera's Wife." This was how she was known for a long time: as the strange wife of famous muralist Diego Rivera. She's now considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born just before the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. She lived in La Casa Azul, a small house that her father painted blue. When she was six she came down with polio, which left her right leg permanently disfigured. To help it heal, her father encouraged her to exercise and play sports, but she always had a prominent limp. Frida didn't plan to be an artist--she wanted to be a doctor, and she studied medicine at one of Mexico's finest schools. Everything changed when she was in a bus accident at age 18. She was severely injured and spent months in a full-body cast. Isolated and in pain, she began to paint. Her mother made her an easel she could use while lying down, and her father shared his oil paints. She experimented with bright colors that reminded her of traditional Mexican folk art. The small self-portraits that she created helped her process her traumatic accident. Frida eventually showed four of her pieces to the artist Diego Rivera, whom she adored. "You've got talent," he told her, and it was true. Her paintings were deeply personal, yet they combined elements of Mexican art, classical European painting, and newer Surrealist works. She and Diego eventually married and became part of a thriving Mexican art scene. It was a male-dominated scene but Frida also encountered women like singer Chavela Vargas, muralist Fanny Rabel, and photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo (the first and only person to exhibit Frida's paintings in Mexico during her lifetime). Frida remained relatively obscure until the 1980s, when a biography about her got people's attention. Feminist and Latina artists began to celebrate her work, and she became a cultural icon, now more well known than Diego. Frida's life was painful, and she created over 140 paintings that reflected it. Unlike many other artists at the time, Frida didn't paint landscapes or abstract shapes: she painted her real, pained self. She celebrated her flaws, her fears, her country, and her desires and she did it beautifully. Excerpted from Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History by Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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