Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics
Ratings10
Average rating3.9
"A brazen, uproarious collection of illustrations of tough women both historical and fantastical--too awesome, too fierce, and sometimes too weird. These are not fantasy tales of blushing ingenues and happily-ever-afters. Here are the real unsung women of history, real and from literature, mythology and folklore. Illustrated in a contemporary animation style, Rejected Princesses dismisses the 'pretty pink princess' stereotype and profiles, through biography, imagery, wit, and humor, badass women throughout time and from all around the world. Warrior queens, soldiers, villains, spies, revolutionaries, and many more. Women of every era, ethnicity, class and orientation are pictured including a princess-cum-pirate from 5th century Denmark, a rebel preacher in 1630s Boston, a Hungarian blood thirsty countess, and a former prostitute that commanded a fleet of 70,000+ men on the Chinese seas. In Rejected Princesses, Jason Porath presents the female role models we never knew we needed! Fun, feminist, and educational, Rejected Princesses commemorates unknown but captivating female heroes, proving that women have been kicking ass for a long, long time and always will. Who needs Cinderella when you have Rejected Princesses?"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I loved learning about all of the women. I didn't love the author's voice or writing style. I take it more as a (really really long) list of women I would like to read about more in other books.
Something to note, especially for those thinking of reading them to kids—they aren't really written for kids, especially towards the end (home of the more “mature” ((read: brutal)) stories). In fact, one of the challenging things about a lot of them is that while each woman has a remarkable story, they are not all essentially good people. Of course, neither are the male “heroes” we often read about. There is just a lot of grey area, which didn't leave me feeling inspired, just torn. Plus, a lot of the truth behind the stories is clouded by history and biased people.
Overall, not sure I would recommend it. Maybe to a person looking for something particular.