Rating: 
Summary: MEDIA REVIEW AND COMMENTS
Review: **SPECIAL NOTE** "Cool Women" was nominated by the American Library Association as one of the Best Books For Young Adults of 1998.From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: "Billed as 'the thinking girl's guide to the hippest women in history,' Pam Nelson's Cool Women (Girl Press) is an irreverent look at bad girls through the ages, from the Amazons to Evita. Slanted toward history's radical heroines, the book is full of gossipy anecdotes, like Jane Goodall's fights with surly male chimps. Exerpts from beauty guides created for women's baseball leagues offer tips on removing 'superfluous' body hair." From THE LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT: "The Baby Sitters' Club and Sweet Valley High schooler may want to step aside - there's a new gang of girls in town. They're the real-life heroines of 'Cool Women,' a collection of 'righteous queens,' 'cool goddesses,' 'lady spies' and a few more who weren't afraid to misbehave - and make history." From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: "Bursting with color, screaming type and vibrant graphics, dreamed up by local designer Amy Inouye, the book's effect is that of a peer-friendly chat in the mode of youth-oriented 'zines and Web sites." From GIRLS' LIFE: "As its name suggests, this book is packed with fascinating facts about some of the most radical women who've ever lived. With quick blips, quotes and photos, it resembles a montage. Each two-page spread covers women like Nellie Bly, Madame Curie, Evita and more - movie stars, photographers, reporters, even fiction characters like Nancy Drew. You won't want to put it down."
Rating:
Summary: Girl Press
Review: Cool Women The Thinking Girl's Guide to the Hippest Women in History-- The ultimate book of role models for girls, with femme fatales, heroines, and troublemakers from all walks. Think Amelia Earhart, Mae West, and Cleopatra all in one place and you've got the right idea. Breezy writing and high design make it all fun and accessible--a girl reading COOL WOMEN will come away thinking that Madame Curie was brilliant, sure, but also that Madame Curie ROCKED.
Rating: 
Summary: for those uneducated in the excelence of women's successes
Review: I picked up this book, interested in some of the photographs on the front cover. Immediatley, when I opened it, I was drawn into the book. It had fabulous graphics and layout. I paged through first, reading little bits of information that interested me. That was really the extent of my experience with the book, until I recently sat down with it and decided the read through it all. I found it absoulutely intriguing. I read every "mini-biography" and after I was done, I went to find out more information about the amazing women I had just been introduced to. My curiousity lead me to fantatic discoveries, but what displeased me was the short extent of people that this book covered. Only briefly did it cover the suffragist movement, and other important events in AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY. Although I know that Americans are not everything, we were pioneers in freeing women from cultural and social restrictions.
This was a great introduction to a broad topic. I reccommend it to young girls that do not realize the extent of what their great sex can do, but also to boys. I believe that they,too, should be introduced to the fact that men and women are equal. It doesn't cover everything, but it may lead you to great things.
Rating:
Summary: for those uneducated in the excelence of women's successes
Review: I picked up this book, interested in some of the photographs on the front cover. Immediatley, when I opened it, I was drawn into the book. It had fabulous graphics and layout. I paged through first, reading little bits of information that interested me. That was really the extent of my experience with the book, until I recently sat down with it and decided the read through it all. I found it absoulutely intriguing. I read every "mini-biography" and after I was done, I went to find out more information about the amazing women I had just been introduced to. My curiousity lead me to fantatic discoveries, but what displeased me was the short extent of people that this book covered. Only briefly did it cover the suffragist movement, and other important events in AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY. Although I know that Americans are not everything, we were pioneers in freeing women from cultural and social restrictions.
This was a great introduction to a broad topic. I reccommend it to young girls that do not realize the extent of what their great sex can do, but also to boys. I believe that they,too, should be introduced to the fact that men and women are equal. It doesn't cover everything, but it may lead you to great things.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent material for growing strong women.
Review: I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for the youngest daughter of a friend of the family. I was looking for something I knew her mother would never buy her, something that would make her learn about women as unique and wonderful human creatures. I stumbled across this book and was attracted to its magazine-style layout, with photos and blurbs in sidebars as well as a main, brief narrative on each of the diverse women profiled. It drew me in immediately - in fact before I wrapped it, I had read it myself! It also offers, in the sidebars, ways for girls to start imagining themselves in roles like those of the women written about, but without that cheesy condescending tone of voice that so many educational books written by adults for kids take. The book offers women throughout history, many of whom may not be known to adults (!), who achieved much on their own. Artists, politicians, soldiers, writers, inventors and businesswomen all are represented. The text avoids serious revolutionaries, which is, I think, age-appropriate. The book is targeted for girls and boys ages 12-14, and it fits well within those age groups, using colorful layout and a conversational tone to talk about these "cool women." This isn't the text to choose for your burdgeoning Socialist, as many of the women celebrated within its pages are female entrepreneurs and monarchs (all, arguably, quite rightly chosen by the editors). However, many of the stories also chronicle women who rise from adversity, giving it a real sense of balance. One might also argue that there is a smattering of racial and ethnic tokenism at work, but I choose to view it as merely an attempt to speak of at least one woman from each group as promotion of multiculturalism (of depth) rather than tokenism (for appearances only). All in all, this book is an excellent tool for teaching young women about the valuable contributions their sisters before them made, and what they too can hope to accomplish. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent material for growing strong women.
Review: I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for the youngest daughter of a friend of the family. I was looking for something I knew her mother would never buy her, something that would make her learn about women as unique and wonderful human creatures. I stumbled across this book and was attracted to its magazine-style layout, with photos and blurbs in sidebars as well as a main, brief narrative on each of the diverse women profiled. It drew me in immediately - in fact before I wrapped it, I had read it myself! It also offers, in the sidebars, ways for girls to start imagining themselves in roles like those of the women written about, but without that cheesy condescending tone of voice that so many educational books written by adults for kids take. The book offers women throughout history, many of whom may not be known to adults (!), who achieved much on their own. Artists, politicians, soldiers, writers, inventors and businesswomen all are represented. The text avoids serious revolutionaries, which is, I think, age-appropriate. The book is targeted for girls and boys ages 12-14, and it fits well within those age groups, using colorful layout and a conversational tone to talk about these "cool women." This isn't the text to choose for your burdgeoning Socialist, as many of the women celebrated within its pages are female entrepreneurs and monarchs (all, arguably, quite rightly chosen by the editors). However, many of the stories also chronicle women who rise from adversity, giving it a real sense of balance. One might also argue that there is a smattering of racial and ethnic tokenism at work, but I choose to view it as merely an attempt to speak of at least one woman from each group as promotion of multiculturalism (of depth) rather than tokenism (for appearances only). All in all, this book is an excellent tool for teaching young women about the valuable contributions their sisters before them made, and what they too can hope to accomplish. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Much Needed
Review: This book bridges the gap in educational books for young readers. It helps young girls specifically to understand that women have been achievers throughout history and in doing so can serve as inspiration for modern young women who may be short on confidence or direction. This book is a "must" for the 12-18 year age group, and adults like myself will also find it interesting and educational.
Rating:
Summary: For the teachers...
Review: This book contains both fictional and non-fiction women through out history. It would be a great starting point for the development of biographical feature articles or biographical reports. The text is set on different colors and chunked for easy reading (helpful for lower level readers). The women featured in this book are extremely diverse so that any girl can find someone who looks like her to relate to within the text. Each entry also has information for girls to find out more about the cool woman they are reading about.
Rating:
Summary: For the teachers...
Review: This book contains both fictional and non-fiction women through out history. It would be a great starting point for the development of biographical feature articles or biographical reports. The text is set on different colors and chunked for easy reading (helpful for lower level readers). The women featured in this book are extremely diverse so that any girl can find someone who looks like her to relate to within the text. Each entry also has information for girls to find out more about the cool woman they are reading about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, not Encyclopedia!
Review: This book is an excellent light hearted resource for girls and women alike. It exposes the reader to a nice well rounded look at some interesting female figures in the past. The extent of information given is a bit limited but opens the door for further exploration into strong women.
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