"Scribbling Women"

April 15, 2011

Spanning the globe and 1,000 years, Jocelyn profiles extraordinary women whose writing offers fascinating insight into their respective places and times.

Of the 11 female writers profiled in this collective biography, the only name most readers are likely to recognize is pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Jocelyn begins with Sei Shonagon, whose Pillow Book offers vivid insights into 10th-century Japanese imperial court life. The letters of Margaret Catchpole, a convicted thief, provide the earliest record of white settlement in Australia. Doris Pilkington Garinara's Rabbit-Proof Fence and other works explore the terrible consequences white settlement had for Australia's aboriginal people. The intrepid explorer Mary Kingsley chronicled her amazing adventures in West Africa. Other subjects include Ada Blackjack, the sole survivor of a disastrous Arctic expedition, and Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, a North Vietnamese doctor who chronicled in a diary her ordeal treating the sick and wounded in a jungle field hospital. Jocelyn wisely gives readers a sense of these writers' unique voices through generous quotations of their works. Her admiration and enthusiasm for these women is evident, as is her detailed knowledge of the places and times in which they lived.

The title refers to disparaging comments made by Nathaniel Hawthorne in a letter to his editor; Hawthorne was convinced female writers had nothing worthy to say, but this collection consistently proves him wrong. (notes, bibliography) (Collective biography. 14 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-This slim, elegant book contains 11 biographies of women born between the years 965 and 1937. With the exception of Sei Shonagon (author of The Pillow Book) and Harriet Jacobs (author of the noted slave narrative), the scribblers profiled here will probably not be known to teens. Although these women left behind written records of their lives-diaries, letters, and stories-most did not publish or consider themselves authors. Writing was simply an activity they squeezed in among other pursuits, from whaling to scientific expeditions in Africa. Approximately half of those included are women of color: Japanese, Inupiat Eskimo, African American, Aboriginal Australian, and Vietnamese. The collection is refreshing because it does not hail women for conventional accomplishments, but celebrates smaller, more personal triumphs in the context of their society. Readers will cheer for aspiring scientist Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) when she is finally free to pursue her dreams after decades of being the caregiver to a family of men. They will deeply respect Margaret Catchpole (1762-1819) because she writes so bravely and insightfully about serving a life sentence for stealing a horse. Jocelyn draws on real scholarship to paint novelistic portraits of her subjects' inner lives. The women here truly live up to their billing as "astonishing."-Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard H.S. Early College, Queens, NY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 6-9 Jocelyn, who writes well across several genres, returns to biography in this eye-opening work. She gets her title from Nathaniel Hawthorne, who complained about scribbling women. Rather than focus on the well known, she covers an eclectic group of 10 women who wrote stories about their lives and the world around them. She begins with Sei Shonagon, lady-in-waiting at the imperial court of Japan, who wrote The Pillow Book, a collection of lists, anecdotes, poems, gossip, reminiscences, and astute observations. Moving across times and continents, Jocelyn introduces Margaret Catchpole, whose letters captured the life of a prisoner transported to Australia; Harriet Ann Jacobs, who described American slave life; and IsabellaBeeton, who wrote a cookbook. Perhaps the most famous of the group is newspaper reporter Nellie Bly, who traveled the world uncovering scandals. Jocelyn does a masterful job of putting each writer in context and uses excerpts from their writing to carry the pieces. The format, with a photo of each author and a smattering of historical artifacts, is staid, but it is the words that resonate here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)