Stephanie Warren Drimmer

The concept of an explosively interesting, eye-catching, mind-engaging book of women who have achieved much in spite of societal difficulties is fabulous and National Geographic Kids books has done a great job of compiling this collection of short biographic sketches replete with photographs and grapics.

I personally think that inclusion of Wonder Woman in this collection is an error in judgment by the author and editor. Fantasy and imaginary characters play a role in exciting fiction, but show more super heroes from comic books are not the stuff of quality writing to encourage children to strive for high achievement.

Real life is better and more exciting than fiction any day.

Included in this collection of fabulous ladies of achievement are legendary women of ancient times venerated by generations of peoples and history itself. Women in battle, women in science, women at work. Women can - they have and still do, achieve great accomplishment despite many obstacles.

At the end of the book is a section on animals who have been great achievers as well. Very interesting.

What do I think of the book? I think it presents a lot of super information about heroines and is a really good book for perusing that will most likely lead to additional investigative research. I love the short biographic sketches of individuals. There is a fantastic amount of information to be gleaned from this fun book.

I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review of my honest opinions which are freely given. show less

A book that introduces young readers to the wonders of space as revealed by the new James Webb space telescope. The book is filled with jaw-dropping images and eye-catching vignettes of information about the universe, galaxies, stars, space scientists, and technology used to study these things.

These two books have a similar format to The Book of Heroines and The Book of Heroes. I liked them, but I have some problems with the endings and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't check those previous books too.

Magyar wrote The Book of Kings with Drimmer, who wrote The Book of Queens solo. Both include snippets from the other book and generally follow the same layout. Each book is divided into chapters, organizing influential, legendary, or powerful men and women. Kings includes the following show more sections, "Empire Builders," "Military Masterminds," "Rulers in Revolution," "Lords of Legend," "Kings of Creativity," "Aristocrats of Action," "Kings of Change," and "Kings of Knowledge." Queens has a slightly different lineup, "Empire Builders," "Women of Action," "Revolutionary Rulers," "Culture Shapers," "Monarchs of the Arts," "Legendary Leaders," "Queens of Knowledge," and "Queens of Adventure."

Both include a fairly wide range of people, although it does tend heavily towards Western history and some sections seem to have forgotten to add non-white people. The short biographies are interspersed with information on famous royal jewels, weapons, etc. Kings includes Hammurabi, Agamemnon, Oberon, Babe Ruth, Christiaan Barnard, Isaac Newton, Minakata Kumagusu, Sun Wukong, Coyote, Saladin, and Richard 1. Queens has Empress Cixi, Ranavalona I, Serena Williams, Dolly Parton, Wonder Woman, Kim Swift, Jane Addams, Ellen DeGeneres, Helen Mirren, Maya Lin, Amina, and Jill Tarter.

The portraits are brief, as one would expect in a compendium, not allowing the more complex aspects of the peoples' characters to be shown. Both have indexes and photo credits, but no sources. Both books have inspirational messages to readers in the back. These are what really got to me. In Kings, the messages are "Kings lead by example; Kings are eager to learn; Kings motivate the masses; Kings are confident; Kings have a clear vision." In Queens, the messages are: "Queens lead with integrity; Queens command with courage; Queens respect the role; Queens are passionate; Queens empower their people." There just seems to me to be a disconnect here. Apart from the gendered division into the two books, I felt there was a definite push to admire some male leaders who had done terrible things and gloss over their shortcomings, while the portraits of the women mostly ignored the heavier odds stacked against them.

However, these complaints aside, this wouldn't be the kind of thing I'd give to a kid who was writing a history report or wanting to learn in-depth about these people. This is a book for readers to browse and pick up snippets about people that they can then follow up later. I would have preferred that they divided them up differently - maybe have two books but put all genders together in each and have one be historical and one modern or something.

Verdict: Not an essential purchase, but a nice collection of interesting people to spark kids' interest in biography and certainly a more diverse collection than I've seen anywhere else.

The Book of Kings
ISBN: 9781426335334

The Book of Queens
ISBN: 9781426335358

Published November 2019 by National Geographic; Review copies provided by publicist show less

No matter whether they are human babies or animal babies, they take a lot of work, but they are sooooo cute! Through poems, stories, folktales, and descriptions we are introduced to some of the most amazing and adorable baby animals from all over the world. The book is divided into geographic areas like Mountains and Plains, Jungles and Savannas, and Ocean and Sea Babies for example. Then animals from each region are shown through pictures with an accompanying tale, poem, or description show more about its life.

I learned numerous facts about baby animals and their parents, but my favorites were the folktales and legends in the story. I had never heard the legend of the pink dolphins or how the zebra got its stripes and the baboon got its bare bottom. I had no idea Paul Bunyan had a connection to why whales aren't found in lakes. The back of the book also gives a bit of background on each of the legends and folktales and how their stories have continued for generations.

The photography is amazing, of course. The babies are just the cutest and the photos of moms with their babies remind the readers that animal or human, mothers just want to protect and love their babies. This is a coffee-table-sized book that can be pulled out and looked through over the course of several weeks or read in a few sittings. The pictures alone will keep kids looking through the pages over and over again. show less