I have enjoyed previous versions and iterations of the Rebel Girls franchise of books. This one is particularly relevant and timely from my perspective. As a woman in tech with a young daughter, reading through these stories of other women and girls who saw gaming as not just a fun thing to do, but an area to build careers out of their passion was incredibly inspiring. I loved the emphasis on alternatives - gaming can be a hobby, it also can be a career - and it's made all the better when women and girls are involved in all aspects of design, development, storytelling and soundtrack creation.

I also loved the illustrations in this book. The note at the end was compelling as it highlighted the fact different mediums were used even with the illustrations. It makes a lot of sense to experiment with different technologies for illustration within the context of the stories in this book and the focus on gaming and the metaverse.

These are absolutely the kinds of stories I want my daughter to have access to and to be inspired by - thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy to read and review!

This book follows a formula that continues to work well for Rebel Girls. Each book in the series is about an area where women have excelled and an area where girls can imagine their own success. This time each two page entry is on a person in the gaming world with 25 stories in all. Some of the women featured include Anne Shoemaker (game designer), Maddie Messer (Gamer) and Poikimane (streamer), along with many more.

Thought gaming was dominated by boys/men? Well, these folks prove that theory is wrong.

As is often true in the Rebel Girls books, there are additional sections in the back of the book. These include writing and drawing activities and a section called Keep Playing.

Once again, this title is a good one for home and school libraries. I love how Rebel Girls believes in its audience.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Rebel Girls for this title. All opinions are my own.

Yet another inspiring release from the Rebel girls productions. This book introduced to many women I didn't even have been influencing game development for decades. It's a great series for young girls. I also think if it's made accessible to young boys, it could make them more feminist.

Interesting overview of women involved in videogaming. Lots of diversity, and a suprising number of people my age!

I really enjoyed this read! It had great information about different women in the gaming world, whether they were a gamer or coders, etc. I especially enjoyed how some of the artwork to represent the women were in the style of video game that went with their background. Highly recommend it, especially for any gaming lover girl you know.

Welcome to the latest in the Rebel Girls series, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. My mind was changed by the first story in Rebel Girls Level Up: 25 Tales of Gaming and the Metaverse. Beautiful illustrations and inspiring stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

The world has changed from when I was young, and this is a great book for those interested in gaming, the industry, and what goes into succeeding in a male-dominated field. Each story opens with the dreams the person had as a child, what ultimately lead them to a gaming-focused career, a portrait, a quote, and information on where each person is from.

I loved the QR codes throughout the book and found they added an interactive edge. The information was immense, and as someone who usually only plays solitaire and tracks her cycle outside of book stuff, I found it super informative. I learned so many new things and was left utterly impressed. Another standing ovation for the Rebel Girls series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebel Girls for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I am pretty sure that I have read every book Rebel Girls has put out, and this is the first time I didn't have previous knowledge of any of the women featured. I admit I am not a gamer, and this was probably my least favorite of the series. But that is NOT to say it's bad in any way. It has the same empowering feel as the other books, and shows inspiring women and girls from a variety of backgrounds.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was another good read from Rebel Girls. I like the diversity in gaming; it’s not just solely guys and men characters. You hard abs you can accomplish a lot.

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I love reading stories about empowered women and even better in the area of ​​videogames, I loved that!

Lately I have been told a lot about the metaverse and I think this is the great sign to investigate about it and for this reason, the book has provided me with valuable information to investigate.

My only problem of all time is that most of the women are from the United States, very few are Latinas, Africans or Asians.

I think these books are wonderful and I am always happy to receive an advanced copy, they continue to deliver the main message of female empowerment and what better way to do it than at bedtime.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy!

This gem of a book is eye-opening and is necessary to be in the hands of every little girl who loves technology, gaming, computers, and art. This book makes me, an adult, feel like anything is possible, so I can only imagine how it might make a little girl feel. If she wants to do something to change the gaming world, to increase her visibility, to make sure she feels represented, she can do it - and others will welcome her, not turn their back on her.

Rebel girls level up


I was unsure if I should pick up this book since I’m not a fan of video games, but I’m glad I did. While I have little interest in them, it’s still fascinating to learn about the women who have fought so hard to simply exist in gamer spaces. I loved the art, as usual. I don’t usually like using AI art, which is used 2 times in this book, but it’s a book about gaming and code, so it actually makes sense to showcase some of that as well. I’m very excited to read whatever comes next.

I would like to thank Rebel Girls for providing me with an ARC.

The entries in this book are great. However, the use of AI at all, even if they do not plan on massively using it in the future is a massive irritation for me. AI has been causing a lot of issues, which includes taking the job of human illustrators to reduce company costs, and it is something I am very against using in publishing, which is why I have reduced my rating of this book.

When I first saw this book I was thinking "hmm video games aren't really for me", but then I quickly realized I was forgetting about all the old school computer games I grew up with. As the editor mentions in the foreword I loved Roller Coaster Tycoon, the original Sims, minesweeper, and even The Oregon Trail. Not to mention the original video games I loved like Nintendo's Mario and Donkey Kong and the original Sega with Sonic.Those original games lead to so many new developments which this book highlights. Specifically this book points out all the rebel girls who played a role in game development!
This book, like others in the Rebel Girls series features bold graphic illustrations and short one page biographies of various leaders in the gaming and tech industry. There were several woman who I had never heard of and many jobs I didn't even know existed! To create a game you need engineers, graphic designers and artists, writers to create storylines, directors, producers, and many more.
This specific book features some unique art illustrations. Several of the images are 3D art as well as a variety of types of art. Some people look like a video game character, some are pixilated, some were created using AI (artificial intelligence). As with all of the Rebel Girls books, this was a wonderfully written book for kids to flip through. They can read it cover to cover, or pick out specific people to read about. It was really well done!

Thanks to Rebel Girls and NetGalley for providing me a digital copy to read and review!

Another fantastic addition to the Rebel Girls series of books! Growing up in a rather strict household, I was mostly limited to gaming at a friend's house. But I found a love for gaming as an adult, and have passed that on to my daughter. This installment or Rebel Girls includes women from all areas of the tech field: developers, game creators, Twitch and YT influencers, etc. The QR codes make it interactive which my teen liked as well.

The illustrations are gorgeous, although I found the choice to include two AI created illustrations. This is transparent and talked about at the end of the book, but considering how much the lack of regulation around AI is hurting artists and writers, I did not like that this was included.

I have loved this series of Rebel Girls, but I felt that the selection of women for Level Up played it too safe. I even felt like there were a few repeats from the other books? Or maybe the writing has just gotten repetitive. Otherwise, I still love this as an addition to the Rebel Girls I have read prior. It's also informative to children and adults on how gaming can be a viable passion.

The artwork and write-ups are phenomenal though. I was a little disappointed about some of the AI artwork, but enjoyed the reading on the "creativity" behind it. I do hope that it doesn't become a trend to push out more books,

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This is such a great informative book for young people to learn from and role models to look up to! Definitely recommend this book!!

All the Rebel Girls books are great. This one, however, takes the cake. These career paths are still very much dominated by men, so reading this with my daughter, who is a huge gamer gave her a new perspective on what she can be growing up. The diverse career options and walks of life was really inspiring. I love how organized the stories were written, and appreciated that they were written in a way to be well perceived by not only adults but kids too.

First up thank you for the invite but I am HECK TO THE NOPE. With all the crap going on in the world regarding AI stuff, illustrators being dumped, people getting their art stolen, writers seeing people just get deals for "writing" AI books in a weekend. I follow a lot of artists and illustrators and I have seen the harm it does to them. Professional ones as well as people doing it for fun. I have seen several of my favourite artists having to go for law suits, get lawyers, and more. No, it is not a fun project. It is not teehee. It hurts people. So, nope. So I am DNF-ing this book. I wanted to read it because I love gaming and such, but this is an instant NOPE and if I could give it a -1 star for using AI art, I would.

I would have liked a small description of the metaverse and streaming at the beginning of the book for all the people that will read this without knowing anything beforehand. Other than that I really enjoyed the people's stories featured in this and love the trans representation.

As an avid gamer for the majority of my life, the people behind the scenes fascinate me, especially the 24% of women in the industry. This book was an age appropriate middle grade book about women in tech, designed to educate and inspire. The women featured were incredible and the artwork was amazing.

Highly recommend reading this book at any age, but particularly notable for middle grade aspiring tech girls!