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/