Childrens Book Watch
In Lives Of Extraordinary Women, Kathleen Krull focuses on twenty women down through history who have held political power and influence. These biographical pieces showcase queens, warriors, prime ministers, first ladies, and revolutionary leaders. Some are notorious, others revered, and all were noteworthy women who succeeded in making their way through a male dominated. Enthusiastically recommended for school and community library collections, Lives Of Extraordinary Women's informative and engaging text is wonderfully illustrated throughout with the artistic talents of Kathryn Hewitt.
—Childrens Book Watch
Ruth Coughlin
They have done it again. Kathleen
Krull and Kathryn Hewitt, the
team that has brought us five previous
books in the Lives of . . . series, now
turn their estimable talents to discussing
20 celebrated and/or notorious women,
ranging in chronological order from
Cleopatra to Harriet Tubman to
Rigoberta Menchu, the Guatemalan who
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1992... Both artful and witty, the illustrations
provide perfect accompaniments to the often breezy and accessible text.
—New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
"Well-behaved women rarely make history" is the pendant to this collection of 20 brief biographies in what is now the masterly style of this dynamite team's previous "Lives of . . ." books. Krull packs an astonishing amount of information in three to five pages of biography for these female rulers, smoothly tucking in interesting bits: the English most outraged at Joan of Arc's wearing men's clothing; Catherine the Great's fondness for intellectual young men; Nzingha the West African queen's miraculous escapes up to the age of 82. She clearly defines when historical gossip might have skewed the real story, as with Marie Antoinette and the Chinese empress Tz'u-hsi, but doesn't shrink from sometimes unpleasant truths such as Gertrude Bell's suicide or Indira Gandhi's assassination. Hewitt's illustrations remain dazzling: the oversized heads of the full-page figures sport headgear eminently suitable: Jeannette Rankin wears the Capitol dome and Aung San Suu Kyi her trademark flowers. Artifacts related to the women's stories appear as incidental images. Fabulous reading, great for research, deliciously and subversively feminist, this will sit happily on the shelf with the presidents, artists, musicians, and others this duo has covered so well. (bibliography) (Biography. 8-12)
