Sarah Albee

Kaja Kajfez

Women Who Dressed As Men Way Back When

Scandalous!

Amanda

The stories in this book have a great amount of information and variety. I expected from the description that this would be a collection of historical warrior women and not much else. I was pleasantly surprised to find a wide variety of different types of women within the pages of this book. I was particularly drawn to the stories of the artists, writers, scientists, and general feminists.

I'm not the biggest fan of the writer's style, it's a bit too chummy and glib for my taste, a little "hey there fellow kids" if you know what I mean? BUT I am not the target audience for this book and I suspect that this style might be perfectly suited to the age demographic it was written for. I think this book would be a great addition to many classroom shelves and home collections. The sections are long and quite detailed though, so don't think that this will be a quick bedtime read. 

One problem I did have was when the author compared Amazons to fictional warrior women like "Mulan or Xena Warrior Princess". While it might be an accurate description, it felt a tad dismissive to reduce a cherished folk hero who was likely based on some kernel of truth like Mulan to a completely fictional, modern creation like Xena. There were a few other moments like this in the book, where it felt a little reductive. Perhaps that is the nature of writing for children, but I can't help thinking that the subject matter might have been better served by having a variety of voices author the book rather than a lone white woman.

I also was mildly frustrated by how much time men were given in each section. It's understandable to have a sentence or two for general comparison, but some of the stories gave several paragraphs to the men of the era when it didn't feel necessary. We have lots of men's histories to read. They don't need to take up so much space in a women's history book intended for young girls.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Scandalous! Women Who Dressed As Men Way Back When

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