What’s not to love about an alphabet book with twenty-six profiles of two centuries’ worth of diverse, accomplished women in the arts, sciences, sports, and politics, especially when they’re accompanied by bold, wood-cut style portraits in primary colors?
Children and adults alike will enjoy reading about artist Maya Lin, writer Zora Neale Hurston, Dr. Virginia Apgar, Olympic-winning Flo-Jo, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and more. Each of these women’s stories alone is inspiring, but the collective argument they make is even more powerful: that women can be anything and do anything, and have.
Of the mix, X will likely be the favorite profile of many readers, as “X is for the women whose names we don’t know.” It credits the unsung, the unrecorded, uneducated, matriarchs, ancestors, “all that’s happening now and all that is still to come.” It’s not just for girls and women, either: “It’s for you and for me, the girls and boys and men and women and everyone in between helping to make the world safe, compassionate, and healthy.”
Rad American Women A-Z is a truly inclusive alphabet book for all readers, and even comes with suggested activities, “26 things that you can do to be rad,” a resource guide, books about rad women, further reading, and a list of websites and organizations. Great for home use, this book is also perfect for libraries and classrooms to incorporate into diverse curriculums.
Recommended: Highly, ages 5+.
Reviewer: Yu-Han Chao
Diverse Kids Books--Reviews 