What Would She Do?

"Who likes women’s history? :D Here’s a book for you! What Would SHE Do? by Kay Woodward is an empowering look at women in history from authors to astronauts. It was given to me by a Scholastic sales rep who was very enthusiastic about it.<br/><br/>Each entry gives an overview of their lives, some biographical information, and a hypothetical Q&A. (What advice might this woman give a typical modern girl about typical modern issues?) Also the illustrations a very well-done. (Good illustrations are hugely important to me in children’s literature.)<br/><br/>Now, this book is aimed at readers aged 8-12, so most of the women in it are the ones that (in my experience) get most of the stage time in history classes. And there are some that I’ve never heard of before, like Junko Tabei. And it seems like the author was aiming for one woman per profession, trying to give kids a broad introduction to strong women with some familiar faces.<br/><br/>I think it would be totally awesome if this turned out to be the first book in a series. And each subsequent book focused on women in a particular field. For example: “You liked Florence Nightingale? Well, get ready for Mary Seacole!” “You thought Valentina Tereshkova was awesome? Then you’ll love Sally Ride and Mae Jemison!” <br/><br/>Anyhoo, it’s a pretty good read and I definitely want a copy of this for the library."