Women Who Dared: 52 Stories of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Rebels

by Linda Skeers, Livi Gosling (Illustrator)

Overview

Women have been doing amazing, daring, and dangerous things for years, but they're rarely mentioned in our history books as adventurers, daredevils, or rebels. This new compilation of brief biographies features women throughout history who have risked their lives for adventure—many of whom you may not know, but all of whom you'll WANT to know, such as:

• Annie Edson Taylor, the first person who dared to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel
• Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman who dared to fly in space
• Helen Gibson, the first woman who dared to be a professional stunt person
• And many more!

This is the perfect read for anyone who wants to know what it means to explore, discover, play, climb, and fight like a girl!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492653271
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	09/05/2017
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 14 Years

Editorial Reviews

"A populous gallery of courageous, independent women" - Kirkus

"Here are the brief biographies of 52 women who have one thing in common-they did not allow fear or social pressure to stop them from achieving their individual accomplishments. Every one-page biography is accompanied by a stellar illustration that captures the spirit and attitude of each woman and provides visual reference to their times and their professions. Whether read as a cohesive body of stories or as individual brief biographies, this book is a worthwhile study in tenacity." -

"Young readers ages eight and up will find wonderful role models [in Women Who Dared], and the compelling stories in these pages may give them the impetus to try new things and take the steps they need to create their own daring moments in life. The writing is snappy and the illustrations fun. This is a winner." - Manhattan Book Review

From the Publisher

2017-05-15
A populous gallery of courageous, independent women from (fairly) recent times.Skeers' roster of acrobats, aviators, professional wrestlers, mountaineers, rescuers, survivors, medical workers, and intrepid travelers has a mildly antique flavor, being drawn largely from the 19th and 20th centuries (a few of the subjects are still alive, mostly in retirement). On the other hand, nearly all of her choices are likely to be unfamiliar to young readers. Arranged beneath the subtitle's three headers (and alphabetized by first name rather than last), each gets a rubric ("Arctic Survivor," "Bodacious Bicyclist," "Lionhearted Librarian"), a stylized full-length portrait from Gosling with an iconographic border, and a one-page highlight-reel tribute that generally ends on an inspirational note: Sophie Blanchard, "dainty and daring" balloonist, "bested the danger and defied social norms, stereotypes, and even gravity itself to prove that women could successfully achieve their high-flying dreams." The author doesn't cast her net too widely, as all but 12 of these putative role models hail from the United States or Europe, and though nonwhite minorities are decently, if not strongly, represented, she is inconsistent about noting them. Also, the large bibliography is not at all user-friendly, being arranged by author rather than subject and presented in an indigestible mass of miniscule type. Unvarnished but nevertheless valuable for fishing so many admirably nonconformist women from obscurity. (index) (Collective biography. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews