Member Reviews
This was such a great resource to use in my high school Women's History course. It was perfect for introducing students to notable feminists without giving too much information. The students used the information as a starting point for their own research.
This was a cute set of prifiles perfect for anyone wanting info on amazing women without committing to some of the chunkier bios.
RATING: 4 STARS
2018; Random House Publishing Group/Random House
(Review Not on Blog)
The Little Book of Feminist Saints is a great book for all ages. Each brilliant woman has a very brief biography, with an illustration. If you like [book:Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women|33016249] you will like this!
***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***
The Little Book of Feminist Saints
by Julia Pierpont and Manjit Thapp
This book is truly a treasure and an inspiration. The biographies are thoughtful, engaging and often surprising; the illustrations are simply stunning. I loved the form of a book of saints— how about a leather-bound volume with a silk ribbon bookmark like my catholic school days—and even more, I loved having a grown-up picture book. There was a terrific balance between the well-known and lesser known women, with so many important, overlooked achievements. This is a book I read on my ipad in order to appreciate the illustrations, (and because I received a review copy from NetGalley -—Thank You!) but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a stack of these to give as gifts. Christmas is coming.
For Goodreads:
Why I picked it — The title, the topic, and the art.
Reminded me of… nothing - is there something else like this anywhere?
For my full review — click here
Really cool idea. Each of the featured women is named a matron saint--for example, Harriet Tubman is the "Matron Saint of Freedom"--and given a feast day, followed by a short biography. I learned a lot, actually. Did you know Tubman (at around age 40) became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War?
The Combahee River Raid, led by Tubman and Union Colonel James Montgomery, and remembered by the New York Times as 'arguably the most beautiful scene ever recorded in a war,' facilitated the escape of more than seven hundred men, women, and children--the largest liberation of slaves in American history.
The book rightly features many less famous (at least in America) women, too: Benazir Bhutto, Gertrude Bell, Bella Abzug (the matron saint of lawyers!), Dorothy Arzner, Juana Ines de la Cruz, Kara Walker, and Margaret Hamilton are a few of the ones whose stories stood out to me.
My one criticism is that because the bios are so short, they can start to feel a little perfunctory, and it's hard to read more than a handful in a sitting. But then again, what a wonderful book to pick up every now and again to remind yourself of how many unsung female heroes we have to learn about.
It's quick and to the point, just sharing the major points of why these women are (or should be) known. It's a great introductions for anyone who wants to dive deeper into who they are.
i appreciate the ARC for review of this wonderful book. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley. My opinion is my own.
I loved this book and how beautifully it was created with reverence to each woman. The author has created a respectful joyful guide to courageous women who were first in their field . This is created like a prayer book with outstanding illustrations of each woman with their story.
I highly recommend that this book be used in women's studies classes and given to all young daughters as part of their feminist teachings. This is a wonderful guide to strong women at the forefront of the original feminist movements . Recommended for girls and all women. .,
The Little Book of Feminist Saints is a nice book to dip in and out of and will make a nice gift for those interested in feminism, but it doesn't offer much in the way of real substance. I wonder if it could survive without its gimmick.
This is a fun, little inspirational book. The blurb about each woman is short but to the point. Each woman is also given a title, "Matron Saint of...", which is fun. It's something you can pick up and remind yourself that you can be like these strong, successful women. Some of the women I had never heard of, which led me down a rabbit hole of discovery.
I read this book a while ago and forgot to review it. I love the format and the stories within it so much that I ended up buying a copy for my classroom and another one for the Empowerment club at my school. Both females and males need to know the stories of these pioneering females who paved the way for those who followed their lead.
I will be buying many copies of this book as gifts for my friends. This is a gift book, a through and compelling book. I totally recommend this!
This was a really great book and I liked how they did several things to set it apart from other similar books. Each feminist 'saint' has her own entry with a portrait, what she is the 'matron saint' of, a feast day [picked from some important date in her life], and a brief page-long entry about her life. I liked that they decided to just focus on a single event or quote from each woman instead of trying to sum up her entire life in one page because it made the whole thing feel more personal, and it's basically impossible to fit such broad information into such a small space anyway.
I also thought it was cool that they really ran with the saint motif throughout the book with the feast days and stuff. I know some people probably aren't going to like that either because they are Catholic and think it's disrespectful to their actual saints or because they don't like women from other religions being categorized by Christianity. I'm an atheist so I can't really speak on either of those things but I think that at the end of the day it was all meant in the spirit of fun, and I personally think it was a very interesting choice.
There were a really good mix of women featured in the book, both in terms of when and where they were from. If I had to have one small criticism it would probably be that I would have liked to see a few more trans women featured. There were two but I feel like they probably could have dug around and found a few more. Overall a really interesting read and I definitely recommend it.
I came across this book a few months ago, in the midst of the sexual misconduct allegations that were starting to pour out of Hollywood. It was a pretty depressing time. When I saw this book I felt like it was a good antidote to what was happening in the world.
I was right.
This is a delightful book. There are quick bios on women who were at the forefront of change and had the courage to be who they were and fight for what they believed in. The format is set up to be sorta of a saint a day inspirational read.
There are the women who you would expect to be profiled: Oprah, Michelle Obama, Madonna, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt...and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, those were great. The delightful part for me was the women that you don't know about: Ruby Bridges, Dolores Huerta, Kanno Sugako and I could go on and on.
I won't tell you their stories because I won't do them justice.
The other really cool thing about this book is the illustrations. They were done by artist Manjit Thapp and are pretty awesome.
I found the entire package uplifting and inspirational.
If you are looking for something inspiring, beautiful and educational all at the same time, this is your book.
I gave it a 5/5 star rating on Goodreads.
Full disclosure: I received this eARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. (Thanks NetGalley!)
A very short book looking at women who were ahead of their time, were pioneers, and tried to do or be more than they were supposed to (even if they weren't successful).
I enjoyed the spin of the saint days, and the matron saints idea. I also liked that instead of giving the world's briefest biography (each entry is no more than two pages long), the author chose a small story or snippet highlighting each lady's work/life, with the idea that the reader will seek further information if interested. While there is quite a bit of white, North American representation, I was happy to see quite a few WOC, LGBT representation, indigenous rep, and some women from other countries (although it would have been nice to see others).
The illustrations are also gorgeous, and really set this book apart from other feminist women collections. There was no bibliography at the end of the ARC, but perhaps the regular book will have one to direct readers interested in reading more about these amazing women.
I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
Oh. My. God. I. Loved. This. Book.
I am currently on choir tour for my university choir and I read this within a night and the rest of the ride and I LOOOOOVED IT. I highlighted so many quotes from it and I plan to do some art with them and put them in my quote journal. I really hope there is another one of these books and I want more.
This book is really cute, with great illustrations and great highlighting of some amazing women. Each woman is briefly discussed, which is nice to learn some names and some basic background. Sometimes, I wished there was just a bit more substance to it. However, this is a fun book.
Thank you to netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Very informative and useful. Will be using this for several future courses I'm formulating on women.
When a book inspires you to learn more, to strive and imbues you with awe then it settles into your heart. I will take the lives introduced in this book with me to challenge me going forward in life!
Oh boy. I loved this. This book is set up as a Catholic saint of the day book with feast days and beautiful art. It's a diverse selection of feminist icons. There were several times i had to go look up someone because i had never heard of them before. This is perfect for an adult or your little feminist at home.