We Are Explorers: Extraordinary Women Who Discovered the World

by Kari Herbert

Overview

Join fourteen incredible female explorers on their journeys around the world, and learn about the life-changing discoveries they made against all odds.

Women have always explored the globe, but their stories aren’t always well-known. In We Are Explorers, fourteen intrepid women and their incredible adventures finally get their due. These fearless explorers trekked across deserts in search of the source of the Nile, crept through jungles to discover rare butterflies, journeyed into the Arctic, and so much more.

From the famed travels of Sacagawea to the lesser-known achievements of pioneers in aviation, botany, and mountain climbing, this book dives deep into the lives of women who changed the world. They hailed from places as varied as the United States, Japan, Germany, and New Zealand, but all of them followed their curiosity far from home— astronaut Mae Jemison traveled into space! Critically praised author and illustrator Kari Herbert, herself the daughter of a celebrated polar explorer, brings these adventurers to life with an engaging narrative style and richly painted portraits.

Readers will love stepping into the shoes of those who hiked, sailed, and flew to places few people—male or female—had been before. We Are Explorers is the perfect inspiration for any child who dreams of travel and adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500652398
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	970L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kari Herbert is an author, illustrator, and speaker. Her father was polar explorer Sir Wally Herbert, and she grew up in Northwest Greenland with a remote tribe of Inuit. She has written six books on exploration, women’s history, and visual culture. She is the author and illustrator of We Are Artists and coauthor, with Huw Lewis-Jones, of the bestselling Explorers’ Sketchbooks.

Editorial Reviews

2021-01-27
Profiles of 14 women explorers encourage adventure and respect for nature’s diversity.

They were artists and naturalists, botanists and tour guides, pilots and travel writers, activists and mountain climbers, a marine biologist, and a doctor-turned-astronaut. What they all had in common were the curiosity and bravery that pushed them to explore places far from home, challenging ideas of where women can go and what they can achieve. Each profile opens with a portrait and a brief description of a dramatic scene in which the explorer might have found herself—a storm at sea, an avalanche, a rocket launch—followed by three spreads describing the explorer’s achievements, concerns, and legacy. Each spread includes archival images of the explorer or her artwork, which enhance the presentation considerably, transporting readers through time and space and making tangible the women’s contributions. This collection is decidedly Western in perspective; only three of the profiles feature women of color or Indigenous women. The text makes a point of distinguishing between admirable feats and the cultural chauvinism that White travelers often carried, but readers may need to dig deeper to question some travelers’ decisions, such as Alexandra David-Néel’s disguise as a Tibetan to enter the Forbidden City of Lhasa. To the extent that the history of exploration can be disentangled from that of colonialism, this thought-provoking collection makes deep inroads. A thumbnail portrait, birth and death dates, location, and claim to fame for each woman follow the main text.

Exciting and inspiring. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Collective biography. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews