Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: pankhurst

  • Fantastically Great Women Scientists and Their Stories

    Fantastically Great Women Scientists and Their Stories

    As an early reading novel Fantastically Great Women Scientists and their stories has many excellent features. The print is a good size and easy to read, the text has been broken up with many small and interesting illustrations. The font size varies for reader interest and the text style varies considerably on the page which all helps to make this a less daunting read. The topic is of interest to many and the bright cover ensures that the book will certainly be picked up.

    While telling the reader about some of the amazing scientific breakthroughs that have been made by women, Kate Pankhurst asks the question”. So why doesn’t everyone know their names?” She goes on to explain that science was thought to be only for men, and that women were not smart enough to understand it so women had to fight and struggle to gain the education they needed, to fulfill their dreams.

    There are many stories here to spark imagination. Elizabeth Blackwell desperately wanted to train as a doctor, but she had many barriers in her way and began to run her own experiments. Dissecting a cockroach was one of the first things she tried. After Elizabeth had trained in medicine, she met Florence Nightingale. Both wanted to see more women working in hospitals, both the women also believed in cleanliness. Washing hands and clean surroundings were not common then.

    There are many interesting stories about female Vulcanologists, female astronauts, and female chemists. Each story is short, interesting, and illustrated. There is a comprehensive Glossary at the back of the book, which makes it even richer for young readers.

  • Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders

    Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders

    Kate Pankhurst is back with the next line-up of magnificent women who defied societies strict rules relating to women, and went on to make a huge difference with her latest book, Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders.

    Presented in the graphic novel style, but also containing a historic pathway to travel, thirteen women who did make a massive difference, not just in their jobs but also to the way society eventually reviewed the role of the women, have been selected for their talent, skill, bravery and refusal to accept the dictates of society at the time.

    Many were dreamers, many were visionaries, all of them created changes which have gone to contribute to the standing of women in modern day society and the many, diversified roles women are now able to carry out in their working life.

    Maria Sybylla Merian was born in Germany in the 1650’s, a time when women had little if any opportunity to work, study or to travel. She loved to collected and study insects and because of this people of the times felt she was very strange indeed! She never, ever thought her love of insects would see her travel to such places as Amsterdam and Suriname in South America, and then publish a book of her findings. Her work helped people to understand the natural world, with many of the artworks and notations still used today.

    Volcanologist was not a job title Katia Kraft invented for herself, it was a title she earned by getting a up close and personal to active volcanos as possible, spending years studying their activities and many, many times placing herself in great danger. She and husband Maurice were a formidable team for twenty years, before tragically losing their lives on Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991. Her scientific research has gone on to help save many lives.

    Th Matchbox Girls as they became known, worked in terrible conditions in the factory of Bryant and May making matches. They were paid very little and had no rights at all. Eventually they spoke to women’s rights campaigner Annie Besant and in June 1988 presented their sad story to the public. The public were horrified at what was going on. The factory workers thought they could ignore the problem but eventually the girls staged a walkout, went on strike and founded the first Union of Women Matchmakers, which lead to better wages and conditions.

    These and ten more inspiring stories are well present to be enjoyed. The women who created history are to be admired, applauded and held up as role models to state clearly, that anything is possible, anything can be achieved and that with Dreaming Big, as Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders proved, wonderous things, big and small, can be achieved!

    Another terrific book from Kate Pankhurst every young girl who aspires to great things should read.

  • Fantastically Great Women Who Made History

    Fantastically Great Women Who Made History

    Many of the names in this interesting collection of women, who made a difference, may be unfamiliar to young readers, and older ones for that matter. Thanks to Kate Pankhurst, decedent of the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, these women, lost in history have now returned to the 21 century to once again show that no matter who you are, no matter what your standing is in society you can make a difference.

    Even in today’s world, , if you believe in yourself and what you are doing, you can make a difference that may carry on down through history.

    Harriett Tubman was born as Araminta Ross in 1820 in Maryland, a slave state. She decided to help other slaves running to freedom and became a ‘conductor’ on the Underground Railway. She went on to become a nurse and then a spy during the American Civil War. Boudicca was a fearsome Celtic warrior, Queen of the Iceni tribe and took on the Romans as they invaded Britain during 43AD. Sadly she and her army were eventually defeated but were never forgotten as champions for their land and their people.

    Dr Elizabeth Blackwell was the first women to ever earn a degree in Medicine and it was only because of practical joke she was allowed to enter the Geneva Medical College in New York State, in 1847. Hatshepsut changed history by becoming the first and only female ever to be Pharaoh of Egypt as the heir to throne Tuthmosis III was only a baby when his father died. Qiu Jin stood up for women’s rights not to have their feet broken and bound as was the custom in China, eventually going on rally women all over China to rebel against the Government.

    Each of the many women featured has a double page spread to tell their stories, with the graphics and layout different for each one and suited to their history. The last page of the book is in the form of Fantastically Great Words dictionary to provide a more detailed meaning for some of the lesser used words today such as cosmonaut and algorithm!

    This eagerly awaited sequel to Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World is equally as fantastic  as the first book and brings back into focus women who really did make a massive difference and because of them, women today can do so much more than their great-great grandmothers were ever able to do.

    Recommended reading for both boys and girls this is a book that celebrates great achievement by women who truly did make a huge difference