Adventurous Women is the perfect gift for a fifth to eighth grade girl who is looking for role models. The eight women described by the author lived in the 19th century with its social limitations and stereotypes however these did not hold them back from an adventurous life.
The women profiled in the book are Louise Boyd, arctic explorer; Mary Gibson Henry, plant hunter and botanist; Juana Briones, a Hispanic landowner in early San Francisco; Alice Hamilton, a pioneer in industrial medicine; Mary McLeod Bethune, educator; Katherine Wormeley, nursing superintendent during the Civil War, and Peggy Hull, reporter.
Women Who Defied Odds
The book is written in an easy to read style for these grade levels with its spacious layout and chatty style. The short history of each woman introduces the reader to the fascinting lives of these little-known pioneers. The best known are Bethune and Hull but the others are hard to find in books for younger readers. What all the women had in common was the willingness to defy the odds and lived adventurous lives seldom experienced by females of that time. Each one went beyond boundries to make a difference.
For example, Katherine Wormeley left a fascinating correspondence about her work aboard hospital ships, helping to save the lives of many sick and wounded soldiers. Mary McLeod Bethune, with only a promise of help and a dollar and a half to her name, opened a school for African- American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1904, at a time when schools were segregated. Mary Gibson Henry fell in love with the wilderness on a camping trip when she was seven years old and for many years risked her life while visiting swamps, forests, mountains and cross rivers following her quest for new botanical species.
Further Research About Adventurous Women
The author went to great lengths to document her primary sources for the Internet age enabling web-savvy teenagers to learn more about each individual woman. In addition, the chapters include black-and-white photographs, some excerpts from diaries, and also an index, extensive source notes, brief chronologies, and selected bibliography.
In reading the adventures of these eight intelligent and couragous women, who were bold enough to confront obstacles and take risks in pursuit of their goals, teenagers can find role models for their own life decisions.
About the Author
The author, Penny Colman has won many awards for the non-fiction books for all ages she has written in which she uses her expertise in women's history and her talents in telling stories about them. She is lecturer at Queens College, the City University of New York.
Adventurous Women: Eight True Stories about Women Who Made a Difference by Penny Colman, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, New York, 2006. 186 pages. Includes a bibliography, index, photographs,source notes and webliography.
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