Review
Title: The Book of Sisters: Biographies of Incredible Siblings Throughout Historyhe Book of Sisters: Biographies of Incredible Siblings Throughout History
Authors: Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson
Publisher: Neon Squid
Genre: Non-Fiction/Biographical, Mid-Grade Readers
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 128
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 1684492009
Price: 19.99
Reviewed by Heather Harris Bergevin for the Association of Mormon Letters
Being a middle-grade kid is difficult. Being a preteen or early teen is rarely anybody’s favorite time period, but it’s particularly difficult for those who are female. Beyond the joy of menarche and puberty, which is shunned enough in conversation, there’re a million little things that girls begin to notice beginning in the ramp-up to middle school. One of the first is that while they were expected to speak up in early elementary school, slowly and incisively over the next few years, they are expected to “be good” – which often means quiet, well behaved, cleanly dressed, and still.
Some of us (ahem, self) rarely meet those requirements.
Moreover, while practicing being smaller and invisible, young girls begin to notice precisely where they are not represented. Often this place is within their own textbooks, where a classical education as defined by early nineteenth-century standards includes the most important folks in society– well, if society was comprised only of middle to upper-class male inventors, politicians, warriors, and other folks who are almost always male, and rather likely to be Caucasian and of British ancestry as well. It’s difficult to teach that women hold up half the sky (or at least a large portion of it, accounting for Enby folx) without teaching the history of women. What few things are covered are probably very notable white suffragettes, maybe Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, and possibly a terribly inaccurate version of Pocahontas.
Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson, two brilliant sisters who run the podcast “What’s Her Name,” want to change all of that. Their new book, The Book of Sisters: Biographies of Incredible Siblings Through History, focuses on sisterhood around the world, in stories of varied cultures and women throughout history. Beautifully written, it focuses on historical and mythological stories from areas as disparate as Mesopotamian, Mayan, and Tongan cultures, with stories from Greece, Korea, and Pasifika along the way. Each story is lavishly and beautifully illustrated by Neon Squid’s collective of 25 astounding artists, each in their own distinctive style. Meikle and Nelson’s sister, Mera MacKendrick, also shared in the illustration by doing the sibling’s author portraits.
Altogether the effects are magical. The illustrations are so beautifully done that they draw you into the magic of the stories themselves. The chapters are carefully explained in a way that makes them accessible to children, including the facts, and yet carefully smoothing some non-child friendly, complex portions of a few stories (which might include sexual assault in their historical forms). People, even true historical heroes, are not perfect and princessy. Instead, the book includes those who are good and weird and vindictive and confused and brave and… everything, which is exactly how it should be. It’s an utterly lovely book to look at – the illustrations alone, of all different races and cultural costumes, draw the eye to the well-written and creative retellings of the narrative itself.
It’s not surprising that Nelson and Meikle have made history enjoyable, as their clever hit podcast does also! But, when a book I’m reading makes me neglect going to sleep at one AM in order to keep turning pages, this means it’s especially delightful. While publishing recommendation is middle grade, 8-10 years, because it’s written in segments that can be used as bedtime read-alouds, and because it is fascinating history, those younger and much older can find it accessible to them as well. So, who will love The Book of Sisters? Any adult or child who loves history, storytelling, or who wants to fill in some of their gaps of knowledge with lovely words from brilliant siblings about other brilliant siblings throughout known time.