Troublemakers in TrousersWomen and What They Wore to Get Things DoneBy:Sarah Albee / Illustrated by: Kaja KajfeIt's time to put your big-girl pants on.Meet twenty-one women throughout history who broke fashion and norms to do something groundbreaking in th
By:Sarah Albee / Illustrated by: Kaja Kajfe
Meet twenty-one women throughout history who broke fashion and norms to do something groundbreaking in this unique middle-grade collection that celebrates trailblazers and troublemakers.
Girls and women have historically been denied access to work, been blocked from the arts, refused the opportunity to lead and fight, and much more, simply because of their gender. From Hatshepsut to Joan of Arc to Frida Kahlo,Troublemakers in Trousershighlights twenty-one women who, for different reasons, wore mens clothing, pretended to be men, and broke the rules in order to do something they wantedor neededto do.
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Sarah Albee, author
Sarah Albee is theNew York Timesbestselling author ofmore than 100 books for kids, includingAccidental Archaeologists: True Stories of Unexpected Discoveries.Prior to being a full-time writer, Sarah worked at Childrens Television Workshop (producers ofSesame Street) for nine years. She played basketball in college, and then a year of semi-professional womens basketball in Cairo, Egypt. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Read more about Sarah.
Kaja Kajfe, illustrator
Kaja Kajfe developed her love of drawing as a child, and she earned a degree in multimedia, design, and application at University North in Croatia. She focuses on illustration, lettering, and surface pattern design. She loves exploring different historical periods, looking through old picture books, and spending time with her dog.
Read more about Kaja.
School Library Journal
It wasnt until 2013 that France finally repealed a law against women wearing pants. The prolific Albee explores the impact of social mores in which women had to break the law, confounding social order to achieve their goalsin pants. With such an engaging premise, the stories of 20 women are detailed, from Queen Hatshepsut to Marcenia Toni Stone, the first woman to play major-league baseball. Women disguised themselves as men for many reasons: fighting for freedom, supporting their families, and creating art. Well-chosen insets broaden the historical context that triggered their choices. Fascinating facts like silk wouldnt tear if an arrow pierced the body, making it easier to yank the arrow out informed Mongol soldier Khutuluns fashion choices. Readers learn of the hostility toward women and discover the lengths they went tosuch as walking 150 miles to enlist in the Union army, as Deborah Sampson did. Kajfezs colorful, full-page portraits open chapters in a carefully detailed, cartoon style that counters the primary source images. Illustrations, photos, maps, and carefully selected visuals authenticate the subjects, although captions are occasionally too brief. The strength of these short biographies is the subjects themselves; a diverse, international, and exceptional group.
VERDICT: Albee delivers in-depth portraits enticing enough to inspire further study; for all middle grade nonfiction collections
Kirkus Reviews
Twenty capsule biographies of historical women who wore trousers or mens clothing.
The women portrayed in these short, illustrated narratives wore traditionally male clothing for different reasons. Harriet Tubman found skirts to be a hinderance when helping enslaved people escape; Vesta Tilley was an English-born drag performer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the women disguised themselves as men so they could work in professions forbidden to women, while Ellen Craft disguised herself to escape slavery. The pharaoh Hatshepsut portrayed herself as male because thats what pharaohs were, and if Frida Kahlo were alive today, we might describe her as gender fluid. Historical photographs and paintings add interest, although with descriptions pushed to endnotes, their often intriguing context is hard to find. A contemporary, slangy voice wavers between forced and quite funny, and the sidebars that pepper the collection (on everything from smallpox to the gender spectrum to How To Start Up a Model T) are informative and mostly rather interesting. About half of the subjects are White, though Black, Native American, Mongolian, and Indian women are covered as well. Almost all are from the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States or Western Europe. The final biography (of Marguerite Johnson, streetcar conductor) has such a satisfying reveal that it brings thematic closure to the whole collection.
Colorful, fun, relatable tastes of history that may tempt readers into further research. (authors note, notes, bibliography, image credits, index)
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Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-095-1
E-book
ISBN:978-1-63289-853-1
Ages: 9-12
Page count:176
71/2 x 9
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