Richly detailed and engagingly written, Croll’s captivating study is sure both to enlighten and embolden fashion-minded...
A probing look at influential women in fashion history.
In her follow-up to Fashion That Changed the World (2014), Croll chronicles more than 40 women throughout history who, either by vocation or influence, have proven “fashion is anything but frivolous.” With the aid of archival photos and Buchholc’s spirited illustrations, Croll unveils rounded portraits of 10 fashion “bad girls” and spotlights a few dozen more who learned—many at a young age—“how tactical fashion can be” in “shaping opinion” and “challenging the status quo.” Croll’s “style rebels” range from present-day pop icons Lady Gaga and Madonna, legendary fashion editors Diana Vreeland and Anna Wintour, and Black Panther radical Angela Davis all the way back to Cleopatra, who became pharaoh at the tender age of 16 and carefully styled herself in the likeness of the goddess Isis. To show how fashion can be used to one’s advantage, Croll points to gender-bending Marlene Dietrich, clad in suit and tie, as well as Marilyn Monroe, who had a cobbler shorten one of her heels to exaggerate the swing of her hips. Overall, the scope and variety of Croll’s subjects compellingly present women as powerful arbiters of—rather than slaves to—fashion.
Richly detailed and engagingly written, Croll’s captivating study is sure both to enlighten and embolden fashion-minded youth. (index, bibliography, further reading) (Nonfiction. 10-17)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-55451-785-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
A tragic, gripping, and inspiring story.
In 1979, 11-year-old Norman was the only survivor of a plane crash in Southern California: This is his true story.
This book for middle-grade readers, co-authored with Kiely, covers much of the same material as Ollestad’s 2009 memoir for adults, Crazy for the Storm. Flying in a four-seater Cessna with his father, his father’s girlfriend, Sandra, and the pilot, Norman was excited to reach Big Bear to receive his ski-racing trophy. (As a vivid example of his busy childhood, they’d driven the 300 miles there yesterday for Norman to compete—and then driven back to Topanga Canyon in the evening for his hockey game.) But the plane tragically crashed on a mountain in a blizzard. Nothing is sugarcoated; readers encounter graphic descriptions of the pilot and Norman’s dad, who died, and Sandra, who suffered a gaping head wound. Eventually accepting that he had to figure things out on his own, Norman drew upon the extreme training his father had put his “Boy Wonder” through—training that had bullied Norman into facing difficult physical and mental challenges that he feared and resented. During his trek to safety, Norman performed incredible mental and physical feats and encouraged the barely functioning Sandra—until she fell to her death. Norman’s conflicted feelings about the father he’d both idolized and resented are nuanced and satisfyingly resolved. Readers who enjoy nail-biting wilderness stories will be riveted.
A tragic, gripping, and inspiring story. (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780374392611
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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