No Girls Allowed

No Girls Allowed is a collective graphic biography of seven women from a range of eras and places who dressed as men to profit from the privileges being male affords.  The women in the tales have a range of reasons for dressing as they did, from political gain to the simpler desire to live together with one’s husband.

Unless otherwise specified, quotes from all posts on No Girls Allowed are taken from:

Hughes, S., & Dawson, W. (2008). No girls allowed: Tales of daring women dressed as men for love, freedom and adventure. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press.

No Girls Allowed: Book as Object

I bought my copy of No Girls Allowed online from the Book Depository.  When it arrived, I remember thinking that the book looks very slight for a graphic novel containing multiple tales.  My copy is an 80-page trade paperback.  It contains a Table of Contents, seven tales, an Afterward and a Further Reading section.  The paper is good quality and thick.

No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men For Love, Freedom and Adventure

The book’s subtitle promises much “Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure.”  I’m starting to wonder how detailed each of these tales can be; perhaps the book will be more like a tasting menu than an entree?

The cover image is a puzzle.  Both the shape enclosing the title and the flower in the girl’s hair suggest a surfer vibe — perhaps Hawaiian — and I can’t think who it could be.  Couple that with the fact that this girl looks to be some sort of warrior and I’m stumped.  The best guess I can hazard is Mu Lan (my knowledge of who is limited to Disney movies) and then I remember that she is Chinese; Lilo from Lilo and Stitch was Hawaiian. The cover is almost garishly colourful, like it is trying hard to be inviting.  I’m not immediately drawn to the overly-stylized illustration.  Three things stand out:  the girl has an exceptionally pointy chin (I wonder if the boys will all have stereotypically square jaws in contrast), a stylistically drawn circle on one cheek (I wonder if it signifies anything?) and her fingers seem to be fused together.

The back cover continues the surfboard shape that contains the title and subtitle on the front cover in blue and orange.  I want to know who this mystery Hawaiian woman is.  The blurb also tells me I can expect to read about Hatshepsut — which makes me very happy as I love to read about Ancient Egypt, Mu Lan — which addresses a previously mentioned gap in my knowledge, and Margaret Buckley — who I have never heard of.  The blurb also tells me that these stories are “from around the world” which I applaud; it’s nice to get more of a global perspective on things.  It also promises that the author will “bring to life the language and manners of their times.”  This lets me know I’ll have to pay attention to the details.

Willow Dawson

Details about the author, Susan Hughes, and illustrator, Willow Dawson are included.  I appreciate why Dawson illustrated the author and illustrator photos, but would have preferred to see what they actually look like.  Both Hughes and Dawson have regular people chins, but sport circles on their cheeks.

Overall, I can’t make up my mind if I like the style of the cover.  On one hand I think it is very strong:  the lines are very dark and sure.  On the other, I wish the woman on the cover image were readily identifiable.  I also question how attractive this cover would be to children.  Children “want appealing, individual characterization […] Vibrancy is needed in all styles of illustration. Over stylized illustrations can be stiff and cold, however technically exquisite” (Lesynski, as cited in de Vos, 2012).  I think these illustrations are over stylized.  Are women of all cultures and time periods going to look the same?  I question whether this compromises the diversity of tales collected.

Is this Buckley?

Inside the book, on the dedication page, there are pairs of images of all seven women dressed as both genders.  The Table of Contents reveals the seven women: Hatshepsut, Mu Lan, Alfhild, Esther Brandeau, James Barry, Ellen Craft and Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.  I have only heard of the first two.  Where is Margaret Buckley from the back cover?  The Table of Contents makes it easier to pick and choose who to read about, if the reader doesn’t intend to read the entire book.  I guess it is meant to be Mu Lan on the cover.  I like that the book has no Introduction and let’s the reader dive right into the tales themselves.  This makes the book seem more suitable for casual reading.  I also like that the book offers Further Reading because the tales are so slight.  A complete list of works consulted would have been a strong addition to this book.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

No Girls Allowed [Book Cover]. (2008).  Retrieved from http://cache2.bdcdn.net/assets/images/book/large/9781/5545/9781554531783.jpg

Fischer, C. (2007). GEO Globe [Photograph].  Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/GEO_Globe.jpg/640px-GEO_Globe.jpg

Willow Dawson [Photograph]. (n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/interviews2009.asp?intID=407

Greenshields, K. (2013). No Girls Allowed [Video Book Trailer].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXyjtJrcbxE&list=UUFAbIOjhiVKTaWaZXpf61ZA

References

De Vos, G.  (2012).  Picture Books [Moodle lecture].  Retrieved from University of Alberta Canadian Children’s Literature for Young People Schools and Libraries Moodle site.

 

No Girls Allowed: Background Information

Susan Hughes

Susan Hughes is the author of twenty books.  She writes both fiction and non-fiction.  No Girls Allowed is her first graphic novel.  On her website, it is counted among her non-fiction titles.    I haven’t read any of Hughes’ fiction titles, but have perused some of her non-fiction titles about Canada. I found them useful when I was an ESL teacher.  Her website hasn’t been updated in 2014.  She is, however, active on Twitter.  Her handle is @childbkauthor.

Willow Dawson lives and works in Toronto.  She both writes and illustrates and created Hyena in Petticoats: The Story of Suffragette Nellie McClung.  I haven’t read any of the books she’s written or illustrated before.  Her illustrations have a cohesive look to them.  Her website also stops at 2013.  She is active on Tumblr and Twitter, where she uses the handle @WillowDawson.  Some of Dawson’s favourite graphic novels include:

• Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
• The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
• Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Dawson, as cited in Hughes, 2012).

I’ve read Skim; the illustrations in that memorable graphic novel are more realistically done and use shading.  Aya and Persepolis make use of stylized illustrations.  Like Dawson’s illustrations in No Girls Allowed, Persepolis shuns shading.  (While I didn’t find the stark blacks and whites had a distancing effect in Persepolis, I do in No Girls Allowed.)  What all four titles on this list have in common is that they are all about female characters, and collectively cover a wide cultural landscape.  Both Aya and Persepolis are autobiographies.

Hughes and Dawson collaborated with Ian Daffern to create a video discussing No Girls Allowed:

This book has obvious relevance to teachers and teacher-librarians.  Book Centre has posted Learning Resource Material that supports “the elementary curricula in language and literature, social studies and visual arts, grades 4-7”.  This guide addresses the brevity of the tales presented, encouraging children to create a snapshot of a particular time and place.  It also asks students to think about if the book should be considered fiction or non-fiction given that some of the source material has been passed on via storytelling.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

Susan Hughes [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://www.kidscanpress.com/canada/CreatorDetails.aspx?CID=616

Hyena in Petticoats [Book Cover]. (2011).  Retrieved from http://www.canadianteachermagazine.com/archives/reviews/biography/Hyena%20in%20Petticoats.jpg

References

Hughes, S. (2012, May 17). Willow Dawson, graphic novelist with the most-est, chats with Susan Hughes [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.openbooktoronto.com/shughes/blog/willow_dawson_graphic_novelist_with_mostest_chats_with_susan_hughes

 

No Girls Allowed: Reading Journal

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AS I READ?

Hapshesut

Hatshepsut

This is the tale that I was most excited about because I’m interested in Ancient Egypt.  The initial illustration sets the geographical scene.  The family tree on the second page (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 8) does the difficult job of explaining an Egyptian family tree well.  It’s off to a good start, but… Hatshepsut’s initial utterance, “Marry my half-brother, Akhenperenre? Well, I don’t have a choice.  After all, I’m just a girl” seems too conscious of modern day ‘girl power’ for my liking (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 8).  There is more exposition in this tale than in other graphic novels I have read.  Perhaps this is the consequence of trying to compress years of history into fewer than fifteen pages.  Page twelve shows what others in the court think about Hatshepsut’s desire to be a “woman pharoah” (Hughes & Dawson , 2008, p. 12).  These thoughts are illustrated in dotted line speech balloons.  I had to read the page twice to understand that these were thoughts and not speech.  Because of the leaps in time and scene, I found it difficult to engage with the Hapshepsut’s story.  It wasn’t boring, just dry.  Some of the meatier bits of the story, like how Hapshepsut managed to transform her public image and become Hapshepsu, and the circumstances surrounding her (his?) disappearance, are glossed over.

Mu Lan

The Wild Orchid

I have less experience of Mu Lan’s story and thus lower expectations.  Again, the tale begins by setting the geographical and temporal scene.  In this tale, the thought balloons are rendered more traditionally, which I prefer.  I thought the dotted line rendering in the first tale broke the flow of the story. Also, in this tale when Mu Lan explains her plan to become a solder and says “I’m just a girl. I may as well be a ghost” the line resonates because we’ve already heard that her father “never lets anyone forget how much he’d prefer a son (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 22, 21).  Just as the story begins to get going for me, the exposition intervenes and pulls me back out of the tale.  I wasn’t able to get back into it either, as it glossed over Mu Lan’s time in battle, her decision to decline a high ranking government position, her retirement and the revelation that the army knows she’s a she.  One thing this tale does well is make me curious to know more about this story.  I know that Cameron Dokey wrote a YA retelling of this tale for the Once Upon a Time series.  I might start there.

Alfhild

Alf, battling serpents to win Alfhild’s hand in marriage

It has just dawned on me that these tales are being told chronologically.  Alfhild is so beautiful she has a circle drawn on each cheek, and she’s a princess who has been hidden from men by her parents.  I’m intrigued.  Alfhild eventually gets “tired of being locked up” and has the bright idea (represented by a candle rather than a light bulb because light bulbs haven’t been invented yet) of running away and becoming a Viking (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 31).  It gets better… she longs for female companionship on the high seas only to find that there are six other women (also disguised as men) on board.  I loved this story; it’s what I hoped the book would be like.  There are sly asides in the illustrations (like the candle) and a story that doesn’t stop and start.  I hope the rest of the book is like this. (How has she not been made into a Disney heroine yet?)

Esther Brandeau

Brandeau inspired novel:  TBR, anyone?

Again the story is easy to slip into.  I didn’t see the shipwreck coming at all and was keen to see what happened after (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 40).  Soon after arriving in Biarritz, Esther is told that she’s “just a girl” Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p.43).  This actually made me flip back to the Alfhild story to see if I’d missed the expression there; I hadn’t.  Either way, I was rooting for Esther.  I loved reading about how she became the first Jewish woman to arrive in New France and appreciate Hughes’ imagined continuation of Esther’s journey after deportation.

James Barry

The James Barry story is excited and alive.  I like that James passed for a man so successfully, we aren’t even given her female name.  Reading about her successes with prison inmates and the Caesarean section was an empowering highlight of this book.  This is the kind of woman I want my daughters to look up to.

Ellen Craft as a man

Ellen Craft

This is the first tale featuring an African character.  I was surprised to see that they kept her skin white in the drawings; I’m not sure what I’d expected since the book is very stylized and without shading, but I was surprised nonetheless.  The Crafts’ story really belongs equally to both Ellen and her husband, William.  I enjoyed that Ellen had an entirely different motivation for passing as a man.  This made me wonder why the book has no transgendered characters.

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

Wakeman’s grave

Wakeman is the second character in this book to have foiled a medical exam.  It seems the exact kind of implausible thing that sometimes happens in real life.  Like with the Hatshepsut tale, this one has too much exposition for me to really immerse myself in the story.  The last line of the book, “No one knows how many women soldiers lie under headstones bearing the names of men,” gave me chills (Hughes & Willow, 2008, p. 77).

On the whole I fully engaged with over half of the tales, and wished even those I didn’t lose myself in were longer.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

Postdlf. (2005). Hatshepsut [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut

The Wild Orchid Cover [Book Cover]. (n.d.).  Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3607543-the-wild-orchid

On Alf the Defender of Chastity Olaus Magnus [Etching]. (1554). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_and_Alfhild#mediaviewer/File:On_Alf_the_Defender_of_Chastity_Olaus_Magnus.jpg

The Tale-Teller. [Book Cover]. (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.billgladstone.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Glickman.jpg

Ellen Craft escaped slave. [Drawing]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Ellen_Craft_escaped_slave.jpg/220px-Ellen_Craft_escaped_slave.jpg

Fold3 by Ancestry.com. (n.d.). Sarah Rosetta Wakeman headstone [Photograph].  Retrieved from http://img1.fold3.com/img/thumbnail/310582501/400/400/0_0_1200_1600.jpg

No Girls Allowed: Reading Journal Continued…

WHAT FEATURES OF THE BOOK CAUSED MY RESPONSES?

I enjoy both graphic novels and historical fiction.  One prejudice of taste I should mention is that I prefer longer historical novels to shorter works.  One of my favourites is Margaret George’s The Memoirs of Cleopatra.  I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it were a done as a series of books with more fleshed out individual stories.  I would not have minded at all if the truth were slightly fictionalized to add detail, fill in gaps, and increase audience engagement.

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE READER’S PERSONAL HISTORY

My TBR

I am a big reader and always have been.  Ancient Egypt is a topic I enjoy reading about so I was surprised that I didn’t connect more readily with Hatshepsut’s tale.  In general, I found the characters to be quite flat and so it’s difficult to relate them to any real-life counterparts.  I do believe that every book has its reader, and would recommend this title more to teachers and parents who homeschool because I think there’s a lot that can be done to increase the connection children feel to these brief tales.

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE READER’S HISTORY AS A READER

from Persepolis

From reading Persepolis I know that stark stylized black and white illustrations can work well in graphic novels and not inhibit the connection between the reader and the story.  I found the style of this book so much less personal and relatable than other graphic biographies I’ve read (Paying for It, Pyongyang, and Maus, for example).  I do want to read more about Esther Brandeau having read this book and think she would make a suitable subject for a longer work, graphic or otherwise.

Portrait of James Barry

As for inconsistencies, I did find blurb confused me by mentioning Margaret Buckley, who then didn’t have a tale of her own under that name. I think I’ll revisit this title in a year or so with my daughters — it might be the right book for future me.  I can see it being of more value to me when my children are beginning to have questions about gender identity and sexuality.  One thing I wonder is would the book have been more powerful as a source of empowerment and inspiration, if it were about strong, accomplished women who some of whom did not dress up as men?  And where was Joan of Arc?  Surely she’s a shoe-in in a book like this?

RESPONSES CAUSED BY THE TEXT ALONE

The plots were heavily abridged biographies.  As they were true stories, they didn’t necessarily follow a traditional narrative arc.  Once or twice, the story ended and I felt let down.  For example, how did Mu Lan spend her life after battle?  Wakeman’s death by chronic diarrhea was not a satisfying end to her life.  Hughes and Dawson couldn’t change that, but for the story to be satisfying and resonant it couldn’t end there.  I appreciate that they added the piece about the possibility of other women soldiers being buried as men (Hughes & Dawson, 2008. p. 77). The stories are told from an semi-omniscient point of view.  The narration is inset into individual panels in rectangular boxes.  I think this takes away from the immediacy of the tales, even as it provides much needed information.

Setting the scene for Mu Lan

In order to impart setting to the reader, each tale begins with an illustrated map containing key geographical details.  Chronological information is given by the narrator.  In the more exotic stories, setting is reinforced through illustrated details like palm trees, and viking ships. The seven main characters share a similar physical appearance; they are largely differentiated from other heroines by their clothes.  Even Ellen Craft, who is black, looks like the other girls.  Hatshepsut looks the least like the others thanks to arched eyebrows and a square jaw.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK ASK OF READERS?

I think a lot of what this book asks of readers happens after they read.  The afterward is an implicit invitation for readers to learn more about the history of gender inequality and the fight for women’s rights, and to take part in this still ongoing fight.  The book trusts that readers have the skills to seek out further information about these women and others like them.  I think this is asking a lot of many pre-teen readers; a longer bibliography is called for.

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

The Memoirs of Cleopatra [Book Cover]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.margaretgeorge.com/wp-content/uploads/memoirs-of-cleopatra.jpg

Satrapi, M. (2000). Persepolis, page 95 [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://machicote255.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2010/10/20/persepolis/persepolis_illustration-2/

Portrait of James Barry, painted circa 1813-1816 [Painting]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_%28surgeon%29#mediaviewer/File:James_Barry_%28surgeon%2905.jpg

ISTE. (n.d.). Storytelling Arc [Graphic]. Retrieved from http://digitalstorytelling.iste.wikispaces.net/file/view/StoryTelling%20ARC%20PLAIN.png/417490360/517×358/StoryTelling%20ARC%20PLAIN.png

Hughes, S., & Dawson, W. (2008). No Girls Allowed, page 20-1 [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://www.wordofmousebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/093010_0205_nogirlsallo2.jpg

As found in McCoy, K. (2014, March 16). Untitled [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://college-social.com/content/uploads/2014/03/091116_r19025_p465.jpg

No Girls Allowed: Reviews

I focused on two reviews of this title: one from Kirkus Reviews,  and  one from Canadian Review of Materials. The Kirkus Review is short and to the point.  It praises No Girls Allowed for depicting “a range of eras and cultures” and for offering a “succinct” description of the lives of each of the seven featured women.  I agree that the first is a strength of this title, but would argue that the succintness of the book is part of the problem with it.  I want characters whose lives I can inhabit for a while (much as these ladies spent considerable time in men’s clothes). The review criticizes No Girls Allowed for establishing a “pedantic tone” that “distances readers by telling them rather than allowing them to experience these stories” (Kirkus Review, 2008).  This perfectly expresses my frustration with parts of the book.  It does not, however, give credit to Hughes and Dawson for the stories, like Alfhild’s, where they struck a finer balance between exposition and demonstration. Regarding audience, Kirkus states that it will appeal to “readers with particular interest in women’s history”, which seems an obvious assertion.  It gives the recommended audience as ages 8 to 12; this agrees with my own assessment.  I think it would circulate better in a Children’s Graphic Novel collection than in one for teens. I agree with Kirkus’ assertion that the work is “no-nonsense” and “adequate” (Kirkus review, 2008).  The lack of shading in the illustration makes them look flat and the excess of exposition has a distancing effect on readers; this book cannot be said to be emotional or overtly passionate about its subject.   Kirkus claims the book’s afterward is  “largely superfluous” (Kirkus Review, 2008), but I found it to be one of the more interesting parts of the book.  It provides broader context to the history of women’s rights and connects these stories to the modern day.  In mentioning that “there are many more equally fascinating stories of women in disguise that just couldn’t fit into […] this book” (Hughes & Dawson, 2008, p. 79) implicitly encourage readers to seek out more stories like this.  I wish they had given them more resources to start them on an inspiring reading journey. The review in CM reads like a love song to No Girls Allowed, praising it as “inspiring” and “an instant hit of innovative storytelling” (Chychota, 2008).  While I found it concept of the book inspiring, in practice I wanted to be transported into these women’s lives but was not able to fully connect with their stories.  Chychota had a different reading experience and was able to “get caught up in this fine mesh of words and images” (2008).  She apparently knew, unlike me, that it was Mu Lan on the cover. I do agree with her that the drawings do not “eclipse Hughes’s prose” (2008); the text is well-placed in individual panels and the unusual but clear font is eye-catching. Chychota does an excellent job of analyzing the use of language in the book, noting “its dialogue retains a flavor of the formal speech ascribed to times past, but combines it with information constructions […] for an accessible, contemporary feel” (2008).  She notes the humor in the book that I had missed completely, like the coughing that foreshadowed Thutmose’s death. When I read the book, I appreciated the lack of introduction as it let the individual women’s tales speak for themselves and avoided setting an overly didactic tone.  Chychota also praises the book on this count.  While she appreciates the brevity of the Further Reading list as it “presumes that readers are savvy enough to locate addtional resources for themselves” (2008), I would have preferred a fully bibliography to guide my future reading. In her review Chychota addresses the issue of the CIP data on the title page.  This page includes “Transgender people–Biography–Juvenile literature” and “Transvestites–Biography–Juvenile literature” as relevant subject headings.  While I wouldn’t have thought to read this data, I agree with Chychota that it is inaccurate and “unnecessarily [sensational]” (2008). In her conclusion, Chychota wishes for a second volume of No Girls Allowed and suggests Canadian Emma Edmonds as a suitable subject.  Unlike Chychota, I would prefer that Hughes and Dawson turn their attention to fleshing out a single subject more fully.

JUST FOR FUN

I’m team Kirkus, are you?

 

SOURCES

Image Sources (from top to bottom)

Kirkus Reviews. (n.d.). Kirkus [Logo]. Retrieved from https://d3eoifnsb8kxf0.cloudfront.net/14q1/img/logos/kirkus_500x95.png

CM Magazine: Canadian Review of Materials. (n.d.). Canadian review of materials [Logo]. Retrieved from http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/images/cmleft.gif

References

Chychota, J. (2008, November 21). No girls allowed: tales of daring women dressed as men for love, freedom and adventure. Susan Hughes. Illustrated by Willow Dawson. Canadian Review of Materials, 15(7). Retrieved from http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol15/no7/nogirlsallowed.html

Kirkus Reviews. (2008, August 1). No girls allowed:tales of daring women dressed as men for love, freedom and adventure by Susan Hughes, illustrated by Willow Dawson. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-hughes/no-girls-allowed/