She did it! 21 women who changed the way we think

This insightful look at 21 women who left a legacy of inspiration introduces readers to such inspiring figures as Barbara Gittings, Patsy Takemoto Mink, and Shirley Chisholm, to name a few. The importance of women's rights is contextualized in the back matter, which describes eight things a woman could not do before the second wave. Readers will learn that this ""second wave"" was a women's movement in the 1960s, and that before it, women could not serve on a jury in most states or take out a bank loan. Readers will learn how more opportunities became available to women over the years, even as more conservative issues, working against them, continued to crop up. Despite advancements, this book reminds readers that ""sexism is ancient and persistent and must be beaten back again and again."" Women's rights and the harassment that still hangs on show that there is still work to do. The illustrations, consisting of portraits and spot art over white backgrounds, are striking and whimsical. A thorough introduction to the women's-rights movement and its American origins.--Jessica Anne Bratt Copyright 2018 Booklist

In a dense and historically detailed volume, Caldecott Medalist McCully profiles 21 women of influence, from investigative journalist Ida Minerva Tarbell to scientist Temple Grandin. McCully casts a wide net, featuring familiar fighters for women's suffrage alongside lesser-known figures, including Barbara Gittings, the "mother of the gay rights movement," and astronomer Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter. McCully describes each individual's upbringing, early influences, and legacy, and significant blocks of text place each woman's contributions within historical context: "The American public was ready to listen to Carson's warnings about the dangers of pesticide. They had seen other examples of substances that had harmed humans," she writes about Rachel Carson. Portraits of each subject, rendered in washes and finely detailed lines, resemble affectionate caricatures. A rich and multilayered celebration of women's innovation and perseverance. Ages 8-12. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This well-researched biography features twenty-one trailblazing twentieth-century American women. They include pioneers of social justice (Ella Baker), science (Vera Rubin), business (Madam C. J. Walker), art (Isadora Duncan), and sports (Billie Jean King). Organized chronologically by birth year, the smartly designed layout includes sidebars, key quotations, and illustrations in McCully's signature style for each woman. A well-written explanation of Second Wave Feminism is appended. Bib., ind. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Caldecott Medalist McCully delves into the lives of extraordinary American women.Beginning with the subject of her earlier biography Ida M. Tarbell (2014), McCully uses a chronological (by birth year) structure to organize her diverse array of subjects, each of whom is allotted approximately 10 pages. Lovely design enhances the text with a full-color portrait of each woman and small additional illustrations in the author/illustrator's traditional style, plenty of white space, and spare use of dynamic colors. This survey provides greater depth than most, but even so, some topics go troublingly uncontextualized to the point of reinforcing stereotype: "In slavery, Black women had been punished for trying to improve their appearance. Now that they were free, many cared a great deal about grooming"; "President Roosevelt ordered all Japanese Americans on the West Coast to report to internment camps to keep them from providing aid to the enemy Japanese forces." Of the 21 surveyed, one Japanese-American woman (Patsy Mink) is highlighted, as are one Latinx woman (Dolores Huerta), one Mohegan woman (Gladys Tantaquidgeon), three black women (Madam C.J. Walker, Ella Baker, and Shirley Chisholm), four out queer white women (Billie Jean King, Barbara Gittings, Jane Addams, and Isadora Duncan; the latter two's sexualities are not discussed), two Jewish women (Gertrude Berg and Vera Rubin), and three women with known disabilities (Addams, Dorothea Lange, and Temple Grandin).Despite its not insignificant flaws, this book provides insights into the lives of important women, many of whom have otherwise yet to be featured in nonfiction for young readers. (sources) (Collective biography. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.