rebecita's review against another edition
2.0
As a kid I was a sucker for just this kind of biographical collection, and I was so looking forward to the graphic format! Unfortunately, both text and art are quite simplistic, making it hard to keep the thread of each story.
wageser's review against another edition
4.0
2015 Challenge - nonfiction, graphic novel, female author.
zootedbunny's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
abbythompson's review against another edition
4.0
What a kick-ass book! Within just a few pages and a few well drawn black and white graphics, author Susan Hughes and artist Willow Dawson retell the stories of a handful of brave women who rebelled against traditional rules. To achieve their dreams, these women dressed as men and fought for power (Pharoh Hatshepsu), honor (Mu Lan), adventure (Alfhild), education(James Barry) and freedom (Ellen Craft). Written for a young young-adult audience, it will introduce girls to a wide variety of strong women and, hopefully, continue to inspire them to strive for equality within their own home nations.
jainabee's review against another edition
4.0
Fun little stories about seriously real people who transgressed and transcended the expectations of their patriarchal times/locations by switching their binary gender expressions out in the world—and I'd never heard of any of them before!
As many of these people were almost lost entirely to history—most evidence of the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, had been literally chiseled away by her successor's minions—not to mention the fact that cultural understandings of gender and sex vary widely through the ages, it is not mentioned in this book whether any of these people were actually trans*-men. They are presented as cisgendered women, and it seems most of them probably were so. Some are even buried under a tombstone with a masculine name, including a Civil War soldier. Now that's a case of Don't Ask Don't Tell!
The stories are quickly and quirkily told, with modern-day stylistic twists ("I'm just a girl," quips the ancient Egyptian), but is enough to whet one's appetite to explore the further reading bibliography.
As many of these people were almost lost entirely to history—most evidence of the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, had been literally chiseled away by her successor's minions—not to mention the fact that cultural understandings of gender and sex vary widely through the ages, it is not mentioned in this book whether any of these people were actually trans*-men. They are presented as cisgendered women, and it seems most of them probably were so. Some are even buried under a tombstone with a masculine name, including a Civil War soldier. Now that's a case of Don't Ask Don't Tell!
The stories are quickly and quirkily told, with modern-day stylistic twists ("I'm just a girl," quips the ancient Egyptian), but is enough to whet one's appetite to explore the further reading bibliography.
bibli0rach's review against another edition
3.0
A graphic compilation of stories, where women dress as men in order to overcome sexism and barriers for women to obtain education, freedom, or careers. I only recognized one of these tales, so it will be interesting to learn more about the others.
quackthump's review against another edition
4.0
This black and white Canadian-published comic is aimed at young readers and would be ideal for girls who resist being "girly" or for young trans readers. The brief 80-pp book tells six stories of women--beginning in ancient Egypt and concluding in the late 19th century--who passed as men for various reasons. Text at the end provides recommendations for further readings.
juliemawesome's review against another edition
4.0
The stories of 7 women who disguised themselves as men, told in graphic novel format.
There were stories in here I hadn't heard before. Of course I knew about Mulan, and I knew there were women who fought in the US Civil War.
I didn't know about the woman who reigned as pharaoh, or about James Barry, the doctor who was a woman. Or pirate Alfhild.
There's a good diversity of stories. They're told in chronological order, starting with the pharaoh and ending with the Civil War. They're from several different countries. They dressed as men for a variety of reasons. To help their family, to defend their country, to have a career, to escape from slavery, to seek adventure.
It left me wanting to know more. And there's even a handy bibliography at the end to help me out. Of course they're children's or YA books, but that doesn't bother me.
There were stories in here I hadn't heard before. Of course I knew about Mulan, and I knew there were women who fought in the US Civil War.
I didn't know about the woman who reigned as pharaoh, or about James Barry, the doctor who was a woman. Or pirate Alfhild.
There's a good diversity of stories. They're told in chronological order, starting with the pharaoh and ending with the Civil War. They're from several different countries. They dressed as men for a variety of reasons. To help their family, to defend their country, to have a career, to escape from slavery, to seek adventure.
It left me wanting to know more. And there's even a handy bibliography at the end to help me out. Of course they're children's or YA books, but that doesn't bother me.
library_brandy's review against another edition
2.0
This is a really great idea--stories about women who disguised themselves as men to get what they really wanted. From legendary figures like Hatshepsut and Mu Lan to unknowns like Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, these are women who refused to let a little thing like their gender stand in the way of their goals.
At about 10 pages per subject, each story is at best a cursory glance of what happened--at times so cursory I found myself flipping back, sure I'd missed a page because there was no logical flow to the story. The fictionalized accounts contain a lot of speculation, most of which could probably have been clarified with a little research--and if there really are no good accounts of a person, then maybe a story based entirely on hearsay isn't the best choice for a collective biography. There is a list of "further reading" in the back of the book, offering one title per subject. Of these seven works, one is a picture-book translation of a folk poem, one an excerpt from a collection of tales about female pirates, and two are novels.
The art doesn't wow me, either. The artist doesn't use any shading--it's strictly black or white, which makes the chapter about the couple escaping slavery particularly hard to decipher. There are very few distinct "looks" to the characters, making it difficult to know who's who.
I’d have preferred a broader scope to this book, one that focused not just on women who lived as men, but on women who did men’s things as women. While I applaud these women for working within their systems, a book that aims to empower girls with “you can do anything boys can do” undermines its message when it adds “as long as you pretend to be a boy.”
For kids who need a gentle nudge toward gender equality, I'd steer them to [book:Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women], or give them a full biography on one of the women featured here. For older readers and/or the scientifically-minded, Jim Ottaviani's [book:Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists] is an excellent choice. No Girls Allowed had the potential to join these other excellent titles from the historical perspective, but is instead shallow and uninformative.
At about 10 pages per subject, each story is at best a cursory glance of what happened--at times so cursory I found myself flipping back, sure I'd missed a page because there was no logical flow to the story. The fictionalized accounts contain a lot of speculation, most of which could probably have been clarified with a little research--and if there really are no good accounts of a person, then maybe a story based entirely on hearsay isn't the best choice for a collective biography. There is a list of "further reading" in the back of the book, offering one title per subject. Of these seven works, one is a picture-book translation of a folk poem, one an excerpt from a collection of tales about female pirates, and two are novels.
The art doesn't wow me, either. The artist doesn't use any shading--it's strictly black or white, which makes the chapter about the couple escaping slavery particularly hard to decipher. There are very few distinct "looks" to the characters, making it difficult to know who's who.
I’d have preferred a broader scope to this book, one that focused not just on women who lived as men, but on women who did men’s things as women. While I applaud these women for working within their systems, a book that aims to empower girls with “you can do anything boys can do” undermines its message when it adds “as long as you pretend to be a boy.”
For kids who need a gentle nudge toward gender equality, I'd steer them to [book:Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women], or give them a full biography on one of the women featured here. For older readers and/or the scientifically-minded, Jim Ottaviani's [book:Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists] is an excellent choice. No Girls Allowed had the potential to join these other excellent titles from the historical perspective, but is instead shallow and uninformative.