This book was a delight to read. I'm sure many of the girls reading this will inspire from it and love reading it. I like writing style as well as the illustrations.

have reviewed a number of titles in the Rebel Girls series. I think that these books are a wonderful way for kids to be reminded that they can do amazing things. The life stories that are featured are always well told and have engaging illustrations.

Now, the publisher has made a box set of five of their chapter books for early readers. The books that are to be found are:

Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code
Madam C. J. Walker Builds a Business
Dr. Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest
Junko Tabei Masters the Mountains
Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage

Each of these stories is engaging. Below is a review that I wrote for the Ada Lovelace title. It gives a sense of what makes the series so good.

This well-researched and written book tells the story of Ada Lovelace. Ada was the daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron, although she did not know her father well. Ada’s mother was a woman of strong opinions who had definite ideas of what she wanted for Ada.

Ada was educated by governesses in her early years. She often found her lessons boring until Miss Stamp was hired. Miss Stamp allowed Ada’s imagination to soar, despite Ada’s mother’s not wanting this. Miss Stamp and Ada read stories and did experiments, including trying to fly.

Soon after Miss Stamp was let go, Ada became quite ill and took years to recover. She then moved along the path of expectations, attending balls and eventually marrying. However, she also observed and exercised her mathematical skills. Influential thinkers with whom she spent time included Mary Somerville and George Babbage, the designer of an important precursor to the computer.

I have read several books about Ada Lovelace. This is one of the best, especially for its target audience of elementary school aged children. They will relate to Ada’s spirit and curiosity. Hopefully, readers will be encouraged to pursue their own studies and interests, even if not everyone agrees with their pursuits.

The end of the book includes a number of suggested activities and and afterword.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this excellent, well-illustrated story of Ada Lovelace in return for an honest review.

AND HERE IS MY REVIEW FOR THE BOOK ON C J WALKER

This book is targeted to a young elementary school aged audience. It is divided into short chapters and has beautiful, vibrant illustrations. Madam C J Walker Builds a Business tells the story of Sarah Breedlove from when she was the first in her family born in freedom, not slavery, through her remarkable business success and accomplishments. Sarah faced many obstacles including the closing of her segregated school, the deaths of her parents, her difficult time living with a sister and her sister’s demanding husband, her early marriage, becoming a parent and her husband’s violent death. The book shows how Sarah went from this background that included the most menial jobs to becoming Mrs. Walker and a woman who was incredibly successful in building her business centered on caring for African American women’s hair.

This is a detailed, readable biography. There are additional sections at the end of the book to encourage further learning. This book should be in classrooms and is highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.

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The other stories are equally engaging. This book deserves a place in both home and school libraries.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

What an amazing addition to the Rebel Girls series. This collection of short stories gives you a brief summary of some of the most iconic woman in history. What stands out most for me in this series are the illustrations that accompany the stories. The illustrators of each iconic woman really showcased their ability to create such beauty in their portraits.

Even as an adult I learned about woman that I’ve never heard of before. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to review this collection of stories.

As a rule, I love the Rebel Girls books. They always present a pocket-sized introduction to eminent women of the past and present. But sometimes, you do feel like knowing more and that's where the chapter book series comes in.

I had read one of these books earlier (the one on Alicia Alonso) and enjoyed it tremendously. So the opportunity to read all five together was grabbed eagerly. Here's an individual feedback on the five stories:

Ada Lovelace: An interesting take on the life of the first female pioneer of computers. I liked how it began with her life under the shadow of her illustrious father Lord Byron and, in the subsequent pages, depicted her coming into her own. At the same time, I felt like the role Charles Babbage played in her life has been underplayed.

Madam CJ Walker: Yet another inspiring story, but this one somehow missed the mark for me. It gets its facts right but glosses over some details, such as why was Booker T. Washington so vehemently against Madam Walker.

Dr. Wangari Maathai: The best of the chapter books, it depicts the struggles as well as the accomplishments of Dr. Maathai perfectly. In a period where environmental awareness is a must, Dr. Maathai's story is relevant and necessary.

Junko Tabei: A close second to the above, this one too motivates in the right amount by portraying the life of the first woman to summit Mount Everest. Her determination to overcome all obstacles is awe-inspiring.

Alicia Alonso: This book depicts Alicia's dreams, her struggles with her vision and her determination to overcome the problems. I admired how she wished to be seen as a dancer and not as a blind dancer. Her life is inspiring to every little girl out there who wishes to be in a career that is not considered "appropriate" by the family.

The illustrations in all the five books are as beautiful as always.

All in all, this set of five chapter books will add wonderfully to your child's library. I just wish they could make these books more affordable so that they could reach more children.

I really love this serious of books in general, it is great at sharing stories about strong women that can be an inspiration for girls and women today. What I loved most about this collection was the fact that many of the stories were untold ones I had no knowledge of, in fact I only heard of one of the people. But the books give a quick introduction to some really inspiring women and through the stories you can get a real sense of how these women were strong and such a huge part of how life is today. Another thing I love about this collection is the range of stories, all the women featured are strong but for different reasons, teaching girls that being strong or an amazing person comes in all shapes and sizes and you can achieve no matter where you come from, who you are and no matter what you are aiming for. I also love this because, even if one story didn’t follow your interests... you have a few other options. Although I found them all interesting despite me having no interest in the topics.

I love how at the end of the story the books have some activities to get children to think even further about different aspects of the story, helping them become their own rebel women in their own rights.

If you love strong independent women, untold stories and learning more about the world around you, then those books are great. They allow children to see themselves reflected too, from shape, size, ethnicity or interest... the illustrations aid children to see how vibrant our world is.

I assumed I would be able to send it to my kindle but unfortunately that was not the case. I have given a neutral rating due to that and the fact that I enjoyed the previous rebel girl books.

I am always on the lookout for children's books with strong real-life role models and I was so pleased by these chapter books. These go much more in-depth than the younger picture book versions of similar stories and have much more elevated language. It also doesn't hurt that they have vibrant colors and beautiful illustrations. I can't wait to buy these for the kiddos in my life!

This is what I've been looking for in the rebel girls series (other than bipartisan representation!). My secondary complaint to the rebel girls series has been that the one page stories just don't give enough information about these extraordinary leaders, and therefore don't give girls a clear picture of what it takes to become a leader...the hard work, the time, the dedication. But with these chapter books, each girl and her story can be given so much more detail. The illustrations are beautiful as always. And the writing is simple enough for young girls to be inspired by women from all differing cultures.
Even I learned something about each of these women (some of whom I had never ever heard of). Which is cool. It also starts great conversations with my daughter and we always look the women up online to find out more to put their story and life into context.

I was happy to accept all of this series as one full-sized digital file for review, even though I was not completely on board with some of the contents I'd seen before. The opening volume in the set, concerning Ada Lovelace, overdid the feminist side by hiding Charles Babbage away until halfway through the story, and the whole seemed too dressed up with fictional, novelistic style and invented dialogue to be a proper biography. (Original review to be had at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3043664116?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1) The style issues continued with the novelised look at Madam CJ Walker and her hair product empire (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3043618765?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1), although when it came to Junko Tabei I didn't mind so much. It may have been that this was a better example of this format, it may have been I was starting from zero when knowledge of the subject was concerned. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3702183558?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Alongside Ms Tabei, February 2020 also gave us a look at Africa's environmental issues, and how one of Mother Africa's own daughters helped as well as she could to rectify the problems over-farming caused. I could swing to give this four stars, but I still found a better, snappier book that could have been edited out from amongst all the factional detail. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3702333901. But for me the series finished on a high with a look at an unknown(-to-me) Cuban ballet choreographer and dancer, who bucked the trend in being here for girly-girly cultural reasons and not STEM success, exploring or industriousness; who bucked the trend in actually having the depth to her narrative that a book the length of these would need; and who in bringing what I'd wanted all along from these books showed me to be right in my thinking about them. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3702428585 was a great read, an education even for adults passing this way, and a fine way to close out this gift box of the five volumes. Now, if something could be done about the prohibitive RRP (of $50!!) this would fly off the shelves. Marked on merit, it's four stars at least.

This is a lovely read to inspire young readers which features real-life stories of five inspirational women, who all pursued their dreams and achieved their potentials. Readers can read about Ada Lovelace, Madam C. J. Walker, Dr. Wangari Maathai, Junko Tabei, and Alicia Alonso and more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy.