Bad Girls

I really enjoyed this! The vignettes of each 'bad girl' were enough for me to get the basic facts, but short enough that I wanted to read more about them. The women highlighted were from diverse backgrounds, which I loved, and although I'd heard about many of them some of them I hadn't and that was great. Also appreciated was the feminist epilogue on what makes a bad girl. Love it.

Una rutilante galleria di donne: cattive ragazze, tutte, nella visione dei contemporanei; seduttrici, assassine seriali, spie, criminali, o a volte semplicemente donne che non accettavano le limitazioni imposte dalla società al loro sesso, e che hanno utilizzato ogni mezzo a loro disposizione per ottenere quello che volevano, o farsi strada nella vita: alle volte fino al trono (Caterina la Grande o Cleopatra).

Ma c'è sempre (o quasi) un'altra faccia della medaglia: e se un breve profilo biografico, scritto con garbo dalla sempre eccellente Jane Yolen, presenta ogni protagonista, le tavole a fumetti che seguono mettono in scena un dialogo fra lei e la coautrice mentre discutono l'oggetto della loro ricerca e le sue azioni; perché contesto, educazione, e aspettative della società hanno influito spesso nella percezione di alcune delle protagoniste di queste brevissime biografie.

...altre no, erano marce fino al midollo. Punto.

Una raccolta nel complesso interessante e piacevole (alcune storie non le conoscevo nemmeno io, come quella di Moll Cutpurse - una vera imprenditrice!), anche se afflitta da una certa (necessaria?) superficialità, e imprecisione dei dettagli (sopratutto per le carriere più truculente - anche qui, immagino necessarie, ma tralasciare gli orrori di Elisabeth Bathory impedisce di vederla per il mostro che realmente era) a cui comunque rimedia la nutrita bibliografia alla fine del volume.

Un buon esperimento, nel complesso, e un invito stuzzicante ad approfondire sia alcuni personaggi storici, sia ad analizzare le motivazioni e i periodi storici in cui si sono mosse.

Ho trovato purtroppo scadenti le tavole a fumetti, sopratutto dal punto di vista grafico; peccato, perché sono per il resto funzionali alla problematizzazione delle figure trattate nel testo.

I was pleasantly surprised by how informative this book was despite it being a children's book! The stories weren't watered down or sugar coated, at least not in a way that bothered me, and the tone was very conversational as well as being educational. I'd highly recommend it for girls who love adventure and crime stories, and are looking for real life ladies to read about.

I enjoyed the women chosen for this book. The layout was nice and easy to look at. This will be great jumping off point for our readers to get interested, and perhaps seek out more information on some of the people mentioned.

Loved this book.

Quite the page-turner!

I love how the authors spotlighted famous and less well-known women in this collection. They even managed to make a case for some of the most maligned women in history. An enjoyable read and a great lesson in perspective!

Title: Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, and Other Female Villains Author: Jane Yolen, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, Rebecca Guay Publisher: Charlesbridge Pub Date: Sep 8, 2015 Page count: 176 Genre: Childrens, Nonfiction, History, biography, crime, short stories Source: NetGally Format: e-ARC Rating: liked a lot Cover: 7\10 Review: on Goodreads

Bad Girls is a book dedicated to the ladies of history, who have quite a reputation. Told as short stories, or chapters, we get to be introduced to a new girl, most of them I never heard of. And at the end of each story, we have a little comic about, I am not really sure, how the authors connect to the story? I wasn't a fan of those, and only after several chapters I discovered they were a mother and daughter.

Now, I really enjoyed those brief profiles of each girl and longed for a bit more, especially the earlier ones. Most of them, if not all, weren't lucky enough for a happy ending, but then again who likes happy endings?

I liked how diverse those girls were, with different roles, motives, and crimes. (That sound sinister, though) Some were princesses or queens, there were wild-west girls and pirates and thieves. If you are a fan of any of those, you for certainly will enjoy reading about a mischievous one. Plus a lovely illustration for each.