GOOD GIRLS DON'T MAKE HISTORY
Text by
ELIZABETH KIEHNER &
KARA DOYLE, illustrations by
MICAELA DAWN
Wide Eyed Editions
$22.99 hardcover,
available now
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: History has rarely been told from a woman’s point of view.
Good Girls Don’t Make History is an important graphic novel that
amplifies the voices of female legends from 1840 to the present day.
Reliving moments from the lives of
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, and
Susan B. Anthony, these inspiring stories are boldly told from one of the most formative eras in women’s history—the fight for the vote in the United States.
The tale begins at a modern-day polling station in California with a mother and daughter voting together, then flashes back 180 years to the World Anti-Slavery Convention
where the women's movement got its legendary start.
The twists and turns take readers across the country and through time, illuminating parallels between
epic battles for liberty in the past and similar struggles for justice today.
A powerful and important examination of some
key figures in the ongoing fight for equality,
Good Girls Don’t Make History’s accounts of
bravery, perseverance and courage are truly inspiring for readers of any age.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the union...men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less."
Susan B. Anthony
What better way to start a story about why voting matters, what it cost to extend the vote to women, and the long, long struggle of slightly more than half of Humanity to get a bare minimum of representation at the tables where the powerful decide how far they can shove the weak without reigniting 1789's fires.
What makes a good graphic novel? A novel, in its essence, is meant to take the reader on a deep and careful examination of some emotional state, physical event, or social reality. What makes a graphic story successful is the way that novel is told: one can't readily imagine a visual take on
Gravity's Rainbow, or if you can, do share how it would work. Some interior stories aren't necessarily good as artwork. This story...a mother takes her tween daughter with her to vote, encounters a long, long wait, and takes the bored, restless youngster on the story-journey of how it came to be that US women got their right to vote for the people who govern them.
Micaela Dawn presents the stories with economy and energy. It's a lovely story, told competently and aimed at its eight-and-up audience, represented by lovely artwork showing the selected scenes from the past and present in enough detail to make them interesting and without cramming too much visual stimulation into the frame with the words telling the story.
Here is a representative passage:
To my mind, the best marriage of medium to message and talent to task. I think our grand/daughters need to see and absorb this message so they will know what we are fighting for when we work to protect voting rights.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MYTHOPEDIA: An Encyclopedia of Mythical Beasts and Their Magical Tales
Text by
ANNA CLAYBOURNE, illustrations by
GOOD WIVES AND WARRIORS
Laurence King Publishing
$19.99 hardcover,
available now
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: From the West African fable of
Anansi the Spider, to
Michabo, the magical hare who rebuilt the world and
Tanuki, the sweet but troublesome raccoon-dog of Japanese folklore,
Mythopedia is an encyclopedia of mythical creatures that covers legends, tales and myths from around the world.
Lovingly created by the illustration duo behind popular flipbook
Myth Match,
Good Wives and Warriors, this book contains pages upon pages of cultural folklore from around the world.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: An overview, with stories, from world mythologies is the kind of gift I'd've *killed* for as an information-hungry kid; I love the D'Aulaire's world mythology books with their beautiful illustrations that picked the exact details I was most interested in to summon the real emotional impact of the myth being condensed (and bowdlerized for its audience, of course).
The Haida story of Raven, the trickster god, and his antics...complete with moral message that you can't know what will happen in this life, even the gods, because there's no way to know what others will do with your ideas and gifts...is as good a starter for you as any. We see the overview of Raven as a being, and are told about Raven's origins and personality:
Then the tale associated with Raven is presented in a bedtime-friendly bite, or a reasonably balanced afternoon's read for a very young person:
The illustration style, the graphic presentation, the whole package...just exactly right for your young mythology-loving giftee. Not a few grown-ups wouldn't say no, either.
Probably my personal favorite myth, the Brazilian Encantado, is an Amazonian pink dolphin who transforms into a beautiful young man, full of fun and dressed for a party. He can show up at any gathering. No one knows him but soon everyone feels they must know him or the party will be pointless. He sometimes makes the night a joy; he sometimes steals more than a maidenly heart, though, and can leave his stolen loves with otherwise unexplainable babies.
You can, I trust, see the utility of that tale among people who live along a river with commerce and predators (human or otherwise) active all over.
As an adult the stories take on that extra cast of meaning. This makes them more interesting to offer to our grand/children. We can demonstrate with stories what values we support...and give ones we don't care for a miss, or emphasize their less nice attributes.
Great gift that will please a child and a parent in similar measure.
