Jen Green

[Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind] was published by the Women's Press in 1984. Edited and with an introduction by Jen Green and Sarah Lefanu, this collection of 17 short stories written by women is most definitely feminist, exploring themes of gender roles, reproductive choices, societal trends, science fiction gender tropes, and more. Indeed, this anthology is clearly the child of second-wave feminism. The introduction does a great job discussing representation of women in show more science fiction by male authors, why women want to write speculative fiction, and name checking all the big names (of women authors) from the 1950s to the 1980s. It references and builds upon the groundbreaking [Women of Wonder] anthology from 1978 (also part of my personal library).

The only authors presented here whose names I recognized were Joanna Russ, Tanith Lee, Mary Gentle, and Raccoona Sheldon. Not surprising, since the majority of the authors are British, and I'm just not familiar with British speculative fiction. Each story is prefaced by an author bio and in many cases her comments about the story and its inspiration.

ALL of the stories are interesting. "Big Operation on Altair Three" opens the collection with a satirical take on advertising, consumerism, and mature female stars, which is just as relevant today. Some are not at all subtle, such as "The Cliches from Outer Space" and "Morality Meat." Some I found kinda bizarre and will probably have to sit with for awhile ("Apples in Winter" and "Instructions for Exiting This Building in Case of Fire" and "Words" and "Relics"). I particularly enjoyed "Spinning the Green," a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, my favorite fairy tale as a child. "Atlantis 2045: no love between planets" and "The Awakening" were quite chilling dystopias. "The Intersection," "Love Alters," and "A Sun in the Attic" were very memorable visions of distant-future alternative societies. "Cyclops" connects ancient Greece with the distant future among the stars. "Mab" imagines human parthenogenesis. I found "Long Shift" charming and bittersweet in its portrayal of women using telekinesis in an industrial capacity and dedication to the public welfare.

I enjoyed the range of styles, topics, and points of view. I certainly recommend others try to find this book too. show less

This is a good explanation of basic weather systems, and includes things I'd forgotten like layers of the atmosphere and what the different cloud types are/mean, so that's great. I appreciate that the book even explains rains of frogs. I like the inclusion of the at-home experiments as well. Hands-on learning is so awesome.

I would really love to see a book use a more accurate map than the incorrect Mercator projection. (You can google "Mercator projection distortion" for more info.) Kids show more books especially have an obligation to get this correct from the very start.

I appreciate the inclusion of climate change and the fact that it will have a drastic impact on weather and that will in turn decrease our ability to live in the world. As always the solutions given are individual, not systemic-level. I'd love to see more "petition governments to hold large businesses accountable" but I guess perhaps that's advanced for a kids' book.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. show less

This was an absolutely spectacular read about the history, society, customs, and culture of Native People who live closer to our Arctic circle. The language is simple, soft, to the point, and beautifully sized font. The lavishly designed pages, illustrations, photos, and min-craft projects gave a real sense of respect and love for the people being discussed. The pacing of how each culture and their customs was broken down made proper if not optimal use of the third-person narration point of show more view. There were no characters in particular, but if we can describe the culture as a character to be experienced, then the character of this story was extremely well developed with the writing making sense as it flowed from topic to topic. I would recommend this book to any child or adult, and will be searching for ones like it about different cultures and people. show less

A fun look at oceans, with good explanations of how the ocean works. The pictures explain things clearly and I love the inclusion of at-home experiments that people can try to see how things work for themselves.

I was gratified to see the discussion about climate change included. I am confused about why the person in the 10,000 years ago dugout boat is so pasty looking instead of brown-skinned. And then we get into sea exploration and "famous" Christopher Columbus, which would probably be show more better avoided if one isn't able to discuss the issues with the explorers. I think that it would be better to put the plastic pollution box larger, especially if you're going to say that we make plastic from oil from the ocean. That could get confusing very quickly. And I think the "waste harms coral reefs" is not a strong enough sentence - "waste kills coral reefs" would be more clear and honest. Kids are the ones who are going to be making decisions about how to act environmentally in the future, so they need to know the truth now.

One quibble that did not take away from my enjoyment of the story, but which I do want to bring up: "Fish, seals, and whales have smooth, streamlined bodies shaped like torpedoes." Shouldn't it be "Fish, seals, and whales have smooth, streamlined bodies and we shaped torpedoes like them"? Because really, which came first. Also, I don't really expose my kid to war and violence anyway - she's three and I'd read a book about oceans with her but she doesn't need to know what a torpedo is. It's something we're so accustomed to using as an analogy that we don't really think about it, but I think we should.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. show less