Here is a very relevant book for today's world. As we have learned with the release of the book and movie Hidden Figures, there are a lot of heroic women out there that we just don't know anything about. Well, here is a book that can help remedy that. Following the same format as it's companion book about, this one introduces the reader to a variety of brave women who managed to accomplish so much despite the gender, race, and religious constraints they had to deal with and who were so often erased from history. One of my favorites heroines is Billy Jean King, who not only played and won the famous Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973, but ultimately did so much for women's sports. Malala Yousafzai, who despite being shot by the Taliban for her outspoken opinions about women's right to an education at age 15, has continued to champion for this right. Inspiring people are so important for kids to learn about. I was also happy to see that two of my heroines that have been so since I was a girl and first read about them are included in this book - Anne Frank and Sophie Scholl.

Each person entry is accompanied by either a color or black and while photograph or other form of illustration and drawing, and there is an abundance of them. After an Introduction covering the seven most common traits that make a heroine, the book is divided
into eight chapters as follows:
1- Leading Ladies
2- Gritty Girls
3- Heroines on the Job
4- Legendary Ladies
5- Daring Dames
6- Peace Heroines
7- Ladies in Lab Coats
8- Outstanding Animals

There are a wide variety of women included in this book - reporters who worked on the front lines, women who worked helped break codes in WWII at Bletchley Park, others who helped the poor, the sick and animals who need champions to save them. I liked that Emma Watson was included not because she played Hermione Granger, the smartest student at Hogwarts, but for her work as Global Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. And there is a nice two page spread about Harriet Tubman, who was born a slave, escaped and spent her life helping other slaves escape to freedom. This book is a nice starting point for kids who want to discover inspiring women. This book also ends with a section on how young readers can also become everyday heroines and the very first suggestion is to find more heroines. Let me suggest three women who were not in the book, but who certainly deserve the title inspiring heroines:
Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, the three African American female NASA mathematicians, hidden and segregated despite their contributions.