She Did It!: 21 Women Who Changed the Way We Think

by Emily Arnold McCully

Overview

Meet the bold women who dared to make a difference in this gorgeous, carefully researched collection of profiles by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully.

Prepare to discover new heroes among these twenty-one women who challenged the status quo, championed others, and made their voices heard. From Jane Addams to Alice Waters, from groundbreaking artists and social justice advocates to scientific pioneers and business innovators, a strong thread of trailblazing women runs through American history. Written in compelling, accessible prose and vividly illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, this collection of inspiring and expertly researched profiles charts the bold paths these women forged in the twentieth century.

The subjects profiled include:

Jane Addams, Ethel Percy Drusilla Baker, Gertrude Berg, Rachel Carson, Shirley Chisholm, Joan Cooney, Isadora Duncan, Barbara Gittings, Temple Grandin, Grace Hopper, Dolores Huerta, Billie Jean King, Dorothea Lange, Patsy Mink, Vera Rubin, Margaret Sanger, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, Ida M. Tarbell, Madame C. J. Walker, Alice Watersm and Second Wave Feminism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368019910
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	11/06/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Emily Arnold McCully was born left-handed in Galesburg, Illinois. She has written and illustrated numerous books for children and young adults, including Mirette on the High Wire, for which she received the Caldecott Medal. Emily is also the author of A Promising Life: Coming of Age with America and Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and Won! (a finalist for the YALSA Best Nonfiction Book of the Year). She has two grown sons, one grandson, and lives in New York City and Columbia County, New York, where she grows flowers and vegetables. You can visit her online at emilyarnoldmccully.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2018
In a dense and historically detailed volume, Caldecott Medalist McCully profiles 21 women of influence, from investigative journalist Ida Minerva Tarbell to scientist Temple Grandin. McCully casts a wide net, featuring familiar fighters for women’s suffrage alongside lesser-known figures, including Barbara Gittings, the “mother of the gay rights movement,” and astronomer Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter. McCully describes each individual’s upbringing, early influences, and legacy, and significant blocks of text place each woman’s contributions within historical context: “The American public was ready to listen to Carson’s warnings about the dangers of pesticide. They had seen other examples of substances that had harmed humans,” she writes about Rachel Carson. Portraits of each subject, rendered in washes and finely detailed lines, resemble affectionate caricatures. A rich and multilayered celebration of women’s innovation and perseverance. Ages 8–12. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"This book provides insights into the lives of important women, many of whom have otherwise yet to be featured in nonfiction for young readers."—Kirkus

"A rich and multilayered celebration of women’s innovation and perseverance."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

04/01/2019

Gr 3–7-This charmingly formatted book introduces 21 women, each with guts, grit, and can-do spirit. While they pursued a variety of goals and careers—social activist, investigative journalist, artist, athlete, environmentalist, scientist, and more—they each made a lasting impact on society. Unfortunately, only four women of color and one Native woman are profiled out of the 21 figures. Each woman is presented using a similar format: a portrait of her in watercolor and pen-and-ink, an overview of her career and the significance of what she achieved, subheadings introducing important events in her life or background information needed to understand the time in which she lived, and a quote. In summing up the significance of each woman's career, the author offers her own thoughts as well ("Ida Tarbell's career reminds us that a democracy must have fearless and accurate reporting for the people to be served"). The format is designed for clarity and ease of reading. Different colors are used to indicate subheadings and distinguish between the events being narrated and background information provided. This will assist readers in reviewing, retelling, and summarizing. VERDICT Robust biography collections may want to consider.-Myra Zarnowski, City University of New York

School Library Journal

2018-09-30

Caldecott Medalist McCully delves into the lives of extraordinary American women.

Beginning with the subject of her earlier biography Ida M. Tarbell (2014), McCully uses a chronological (by birth year) structure to organize her diverse array of subjects, each of whom is allotted approximately 10 pages. Lovely design enhances the text with a full-color portrait of each woman and small additional illustrations in the author/illustrator's traditional style, plenty of white space, and spare use of dynamic colors. This survey provides greater depth than most, but even so, some topics go troublingly uncontextualized to the point of reinforcing stereotype: "In slavery, Black women had been punished for trying to improve their appearance. Now that they were free, many cared a great deal about grooming"; "President Roosevelt ordered all Japanese Americans on the West Coast to report to internment camps to keep them from providing aid to the enemy Japanese forces." Of the 21 surveyed, one Japanese-American woman (Patsy Mink) is highlighted, as are one Latinx woman (Dolores Huerta), one Mohegan woman (Gladys Tantaquidgeon), three black women (Madam C.J. Walker, Ella Baker, and Shirley Chisholm), four out queer white women (Billie Jean King, Barbara Gittings, Jane Addams, and Isadora Duncan; the latter two's sexualities are not discussed), two Jewish women (Gertrude Berg and Vera Rubin), and three women with known disabilities (Addams, Dorothea Lange, and Temple Grandin).

Despite its not insignificant flaws, this book provides insights into the lives of important women, many of whom have otherwise yet to be featured in nonfiction for young readers. (sources) (Collective biography. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews