Lives of Extraordinary

September 4, 2000
Just in time for Women's History Month comes the Audio Bookshelf adaptation of Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought). The latest book in the excellent Lives of... biography series by Kathleen Krull, illus. by Kathryn Hewitt, comes to colorful life via Melissa Hughes's sharp performance. From Cleopatra to Eleanor Roosevelt, concise profiles provide fun and fascinating facts about notable female role models from around the globe.

January 1, 2001
With her artist companion of five previous 'Lives' books, Krull shows herself in command of her material. Except for Eleanor Roosevelt, who is given five pages, the histories of these twenty larger-than-life women (also including Elizabeth I, Golda Meir, and West African queen Nzingha) are condensed into two or three pages. Hewitt's inventive, gently caricatured portraits accompany the biographical sketches. Bib.

(Copyright 2001 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2000
Gr. 5-8. Krull continues her Extraordinary Lives series, this time focusing on women in history from Cleopatra to modern-day powerhouses such as Burma's Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and Rigoberta Menchu, the Guatemalan leader who drew the world's attention to Indian rights. It's much easier for Krull to maintain her usual sly wit when she's talking about Spain's Isabella I (who only bathed twice in her life) than about San Suu Kyi, who is a virtual prisoner in her home. Consequently, there's a slightly discordant tone to the text. It's Kathryn Hewitt's always intriguing, amusingly detailed, full-page caricatures that draw the compendium together. The range of subjects--from Joan of Arc and Nzingha, fierce leader of present-day Angola, to Golda Meir and Wilma Mankiller--is wide, but the two or so pages devoted to each individual contain only enough for short reports, and the information is sometimes vague (how, for instance, did Eleanor of Aquitaine manage to marry the king of the England after leaving the king of France only two months earlier?). Children who want to know more can look to the selected bibliography; there are no source notes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)

August 24, 2000
Gr 4-8-As with other titles in this nicely thought-out series, Krull whets readers' appetites with brief biographies of some amazing individuals. Most of these women will be familiar to students, but a few obscure figures are introduced. The writing tends toward gossip in places. (Isabella I of Spain reportedly took only two baths in her lifetime.) Like gossip, each chapter is enticing. A full-page caricature of the subject opens each chapter. The stories are arranged chronologically, beginning with Cleopatra, who reportedly spoke eight languages, and concluding with Guatemalan leader Rigoberta Mench, who fights for native Indian rights. "Ever After" sections reveal aftereffects of each person's contribution to history. The gaps left by the absence of Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto are filled by the more obscure likes of Nzingha, Gertrude Bell, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Don Nardo's Women Leaders of Nations (Lucent, 1998) aptly complements Extraordinary Women. The jacket art offers evidence of the fun inside-Queen Victoria looks not amusedly at Marie Antoinette toying with her riches. Catherine holds an "I AM GREAT" sign. Joan of Arc chats with Eleanor of Aquitaine. And Cleopatra walks like an Egyptian. A captivating browsers' delight and a jumping-off point for report writers.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.