Feminism Is… Review

I received this book for free from the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

About a month ago now, I was part of the Waterstones Deansgate’s teen blogger event. I had a great time talking to Gemma from Dyslexic Reader. I also received Feminism Is… from DK as part of their new range of books that aim to empower young women.

Synopsis

What is feminism? Combining insightful text with graphic illustrations, this engaging book introduces young adult readers to a subject that should matter to everyone. Posed as a series of questions, Feminism Is… tackles the most intriguing and relevant topics, such as “Are all people equal?”, “Do boys and girls learn the same things?” and “Why do women earn less than men?” Find out what equality for women really means, get a short history of feminism, and take a look at the issues that affect women at work, in the home, and around sex and identity. Meet, too, some great women, such as Gloria Steinem, Frida Kahlo, and Malala Yousafzai, “rebel girls” who refused to accept the status quo of their day and blazed a trail for others to follow.

Review

I thought that this book was quite interesting as it provided a short introduction to many topics in the complex world of Feminism. As someone who does not know an awful lot on the topic, I found it was a great starting point. It is, however, just that, an introduction. To be fair, the book is not claiming to be anything more, but for someone who is looking for a more in-depth read, this is not the book for you.

I quite enjoyed the format of this book, as the bold, bright and minimalist artwork made the text for interesting and engaging. I was also very happy to see that the people in these illustrations were of a variety of races.

The short biographies sprinkled through this book were great and covered a variety of women from different countries, time periods and ethnic backgrounds. I did feel though that overall the book did focus a lot on Brittish and American champions and could have had a more global coverage.

In conclusion, I would say that this book is a good starting point, but should not be anyone’s last stop. More reading is required on my part, to explore this topic further (keep an eye out), but I hope that you will enjoy this book as much as I did.