Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz, Illustrated by Miriam Stahl

Star Rating : 4 out of 5 stars

Content Rating : NONE

Back Cover :

“Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica).  An additional 250 names of international rad women are also included as a reference for readers to continue their own research.

This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women's history and belongs on the shelf of every school, library, and home. Together, these stories show the immense range of what women have done and can do. May we all have the courage to be rad!”

My Thoughts :

This book takes the reader across the globe and through time. It’s an excellent book to give to your daughters or granddaughters. I would recommend this to the 8-12 year old crowd. It highlights the strength and courage of women; and, is a reminder that we should not limit ourselves as women. We can do it all! Even though it’s meant to be for younger ladies, I still enjoyed reading about some of these awesome ladies I had never heard of.

I gave it a NONE rating. There are no uses of language, violent scenes or sex in the book. I honestly had a hard time assigning a star level to this one. I love the idea; but, was left wishing it had more. After trying to take my expectations of the book out and put myself in the target audience’s spot, a young girl, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

What I liked :

• The Range of Women – Schatz does a good job of picking a diverse group of women from every section of the world and from every time in history. Their stories and backgrounds widely vary; there are activists, artists, a soccer player, and even a women king.
• Grace O’Malley – This was my favorite biography. I had never heard of her and her story sounds so exciting. I would love to read more about this Irish mother, chieftain, and pirate. A close second, is the four ladies who worked on the ENIAC project during WWII and would become some of the world’s first digital programmers.
• The Illustrations – These are both on my liked and didn’t like list. What I liked is they were created using an X-Acto knife. That is some skill. Not using photographs worked to their advantage, as many of these women lived before photos were available. I also loved the colors used on the pages.

What I didn’t like :

• The Illustrations – While I liked them, they left you wanting to know what they really looked like. I ended up googling several to see an actual picture. Which maybe this is part of the point, get your interest peaked so you do some research on these amazing women.
• The Stories – This is a bit nitpicky, but I felt some of the short summaries were too on the surface. Overall I felt it was done well and to the age level of their audience. But, at the same time, she could have dug in a little bit more. It is a good jumping off point for more research. Also, some pronunciation would have been helpful as some of the names are rather difficult.

What others are saying :

"Readily accessible to children and teens...Stahl’s cut-paper portraits provide handsome visual tributes to the women."—Publishers Weekly

"Fresh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success...pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits."—BookRiot

"For an excellent new book about 40 pioneering women who challenged their societies' limitations on women, we highly recommend Rad Women Worldwide for ages 10 and up."—A Mighty Girl

Reviewed by Shayna Hinshaw

I was provided a copy of this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions in this review are my own.

Pick it up at Amazon or Barnes & Noble