Rating: 5 Stars
Okay, so I STILL find the title problematic, but I gave this one five stars anyway, just like I did the first one, because the stories truly are what matter. For me the title is an issue because, if we want to normalize the success of women (for fuck's sake, it is 2019 and we still have to work at this shit!), we can't refer to these successful and brave women as rebels - and the little girls who read the stories as rebels also. I understand that yes, we are rebelling against the patriarchy and in that sense the title works. But I dream of the day when my daughter won't be thought of as a rebel or an anomaly because she does something fucking amazing for the betterment of humanity. Even so, I hope they continue the series, because there are so many women who I am learning about, and Eleanor has taken such an interest in so many of them.
One new feature that Eleanor and I especially liked about this book is that it included a world map to show where each woman was from. Eleanor loved finding the name and number each time we read, and always had to make sure she had found the location before we began reading. This gave me a great opportunity before or after to them discuss the place that woman was from, and their place in the world as a whole, and compared to where we are located. I hope future editions continue to include a map.
There were more contemporary women in this volume, which I appreciated because it gives Eleanor a sense of, these women are alive now, I can look up more information about them and continue to learn about them as they achieve even greater heights. One drawback to the book and the inclusion of 100 women per book is that their lives have to be carved down to one page for text, with the opposite page for a likeness of the woman. This means that sometimes it makes these accomplishments that are so great, seem as though they were achieved with little difficulty. However, this is not too big of an issue for Eleanor and I personally, because even though she is only five, once she is interested in someone or something, we find many books about that topic/person. As she grows, she will have the opportunity to read of these mighty girls in more details. For now, these bite-sized morsels are perfect.
Highly recommended.
