Extraordinary Women Explorers

December 1, 2005
Gr 4-7 -Most of the dozen adventurous women described here had a few things in common: an insatiable curiosity, a need to challenge the mind and the body, and a desire to share with others what they learned. The entries are arranged chronologically, beginning with Sacagawea and concluding with Matty McNair and Denise Martin's 1997 British Women's Polar Relay to the North Pole. Other profiles include preacher and missionary Amanda Berry Smith, Canadian mountaineers Phyllis Munday and Sharon Wood, Inuit wilderness guide Ada Blackjack, French Buddhist traveler to India and Tibet Alexandra David-Né el, Near East enthusiast Freya Stark, and Irish bicycling explorer Dervla Murphy. Each account details some of the life-threatening dangers and extreme hardships these women endured to reach their goals. Remarkable photographs taken by American Edith S. Watson combine with the sensitive writings of her companion Victoria Hayward to record now-vanished ways of life and cultures of many Canadian peoples from the 1890s through the 1920s. Halftone photographs of the subjects, often in the field, and small sidebars of inspiring quotes or supplementary facts highlight the text. Rooney took much of her information from the women's own writings as evidenced by the list of resources appended. In size and scope, this work resembles many others on women explorers, discoverers, and inventors, but is certainly a valuable supplement to them rather than a duplicate." -Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2006
Gr. 5-8. Like Penny Colman's recent " Adventurous Women" (2006), Rooney's collective biography, in the Women's Hall of Fame series, celebrates intrepid women who stepped out--not because they hoped for fame, but for the sake of curiosity, for spiritual enlightenment, or for the sheer fun of doing something different. With the exception of Sacagawea, Rooney's 10 subjects won't be familiar to readers. Few will have heard of Amanda Berry Smith, who was born into slavery and went on to became a Christian missionary in Africa; Dervla Murphy, who rode her bicycle from Ireland to India; or Matty McNair, who led an 1997 expedition of women to the North Pole. Rooney's prose is serviceable, and the biographical summaries unfold without much elaboration. It's the facts of the women's lives that will draw an audience, but, unfortunately, readers must get past the drab format--densely packed pages with small, blurry photos--to appreciate them. Those who persevere and want more will find the appended further readings useful. Rooney's book makes an easy pairing with Colman's; there's no subject crossover. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)