She Did It!: 21 Women Who Changed the Way We Think

Description

I think girls all across America are probably getting books this year that celebrate woman, but She Did It!: 21 Woman Who Changed the Way We Think may be one you can skip. The author, Emily Arnold McCully, chose 21 women to profile; some you will recognize, like Billy Jean King or Jane Adams, but most are more unique additions, like Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who championed Native American culture.

I liked that the book included several women I didn’t know anything about, but the character-like pictures didn’t give me a real sense of who the women were or when they lived. I would have preferred real photographs. But my biggest complaint is that it reads like an outline, and I was overwhelmed by facts instead of wanting to learn more about each person. I think if I knew more history of the time periods these women lived in, then I might have gotten more out of it. The author includes a chapter on Second Wave Feminism at the end of the book that does put some things into historical context.

I think this book might appeal to adults or young adults, but it’s definitely not a book you’d read cover to cover; instead, you might enjoy one essay at a time over many months. I think there are more engaging books out there like this for tweens.