Review — ′Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World'

This book features a collection of 200 pages filled with bios from trailblazers of every type and age, written and illustrated by women for the inspiration of the next generation of girls. Really, it doesn′t get better than this.

The book loosely follows the same structure of the very successful Bedtime Stories for Rebel Girls, but it has, in my opinion, several improvements. First, it′s divided into 5 very distinct categories: Grow, Play, Explore, Tinker, and Rally.

Secondly, in each biography, it lists the traits the young reader may have in common with these wonderful women. They are all positive and written in the first person, encompassing a varied array of features that will allow girls to pick and choose who they identify with the most.

Thirdly, this is a book made for young women by women who are also great at what they do: comic writers and illustrators with very distinct styles. That is putting it mildly; AWESOME comic artists are featured in this book like Emil Ferris and Naomi Franquiz!

The biographies range from the essential trailblazers of our time—like Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Khalo, Rosa Parks, and Maya Angelou—to the lesser-known entrepreneurs, writers, and adventurers who lived before us, such as Mary Shelley, Hedy Lamarr, Madam C. J. Walker, and Annie Londonderry, just to name a few.

It encompasses women from all walks of life: from glamourous spies to inventors, cooks, mountain climbers, dancers, painters, engineers… because there is nothing a determined woman won′t set out to do.

Also featured are Hallie Daggett, Julia Child, Josephine Baker, Jeanne Baret, Wangari Maathai, Raye Montague, Maria Tallchief, Bessie Coleman, Eugenie Clark, Mary Anning, Caroline Herschel, Emily Warren Roebling, Junko Tabei, Kate Warne, Nelly Bly, and Mother Jones.

I feel that this would be a great resource for Women′s History Month, inspiring students to make biographies in the comic form—always something fun and different to try. The information is well presented and accurate, and everything is easier to learn when you read it as a comic. (A list of more awesome comic artists is included below.)

Kazoo is a quarterly, indie print magazine for girls, ages 5 to 12. Kazoo first made history in 2016 with its successful campaign Kickstarter and again in 2019 when it became the first and only kids′ magazine ever to win the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World — A Graphic Collection From Kazoo hit shelves February 4, 2020.

Featuring: Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), Rosemary Valero-O′Connell (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me), Alitha E. Martinez (Black Panther: World of Wakanda), Lucy Knisley (Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos), Sarah Winifred Searle (Sincerely, Harriet), Lucy Bellwood (Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea), Brittney Williams (Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!), Yao Xiao (Everything Is Beautiful, And I′m Not Afraid), Emily Flake (Lulu Eightball), Shannon Wright (Betty Before X), Rebecca Mock (Compass South), Ashley A. Woods (Tomb Raider: Survivor’s Crusade), Maris Wicks (Primates), Little Corvus (The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York), Chan Chau (Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens), Kiku Hughes (Displacement), K. L. Ricks (Naima), Kat Leyh (Lumberjanes), Weshoyot Alvitre (Alice Sixkiller), MariNaomi (Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories), Naomi Franquiz (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), Shauna J. Grant (Princess Love Pon), Molly Brooks (Sanity & Tallulah), Jackie Roche (Escape from Syria), and Sophie Goldstein (House of Women).