Her Epic Adventure: 25 Daring Women Who Inspire a Life Less Ordinary

by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Salini Perera

Overview

Thrilling true stories of female adventurers from around the world. Throughout history, women seeking adventure often faced opposition. But here are 25 remarkable women — from pilots to mountain climbers, deep-sea divers to Antarctic explorers — who defied expectations and made history. Included are Bessie Coleman, famously known as the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license (two years before Amelia Earhart!). But readers will also learn about lesser-known women, such as Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, and Arunima Sinha, the first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest. Though their experiences are all different, these women have one thing in common: they didn’t let anything get in the way of their dreams! Watch out world, the next generation of adventurers are about to get inspired.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525307720
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	32 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Julia De Laurentiis Johnston is a writer and podcast host who has worked with Maclean’s, The Walrus and Shameless magazines. She holds a MA in journalism from City University and has sat on the Equal Voice Youth Board, an organization dedicated to getting more women elected to government. Julia lives with her family in Toronto, Ontario.;Salini Perera has been making art for as long as she can remember. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Canada, she now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

An unusually diverse gallery also valuable for calling attention to some less-renowned deeds and doers.—Kirkus Reviews

... tales of adventure, travel and record-breaking feats will inspire and interest readers of all genders and ages.—Cm Magazine

The unusual and diverse subjects covered here, as well as the sprinkling of geographical, historical, and other kinds of facts into the biographies, highly recommends this for public and school library shelves.—Booklist

Empowering and encouraging ...—Quill & Quire, starred review

From pilots to mountain climbers to deep-sea divers and Antarctic explorers, these brave women have made their mark on history!—OWL Magazine

From the Publisher

2021-03-31
Short tributes to active, courageous women who accomplished extraordinary feats and firsts.

Though Bessie Coleman, Amelia Earhart, and Sylvia Earle have well-earned entries, most of the achievers here will be less familiar even to inveterate role-model seekers. Also, except for Charlotte Small, a half-White/half-Nehiyaw (Cree) explorer who traveled over three times farther than the roughly contemporary Lewis and Clark, the lineup is a relatively modern one. It’s racially diverse enough to give nods to African American anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston for her studies of Vodou and Kalpana Chawla, the first astronaut born in India, and it’s otherwise inclusive enough to feature paraplegic climber/skier Karen Darke and to hail both 64-year-old lesbian Diana Nyad’s Cuba-to–Key West swim and teenager Laura Dekker’s solo sail around the world. (The latter three women are White.) Mention of the Aymara women in Bolivia who call themselves the Cholitas Climbers and a group entry for the Black Mambas, a South African anti-poaching squad, expand the titular total, as does a brief interview at the end with intercontinental motorcyclist Lois Pryce, who’s White. Johnston’s profiles focus more on exploits than personal details (though there is a reference to Nyad’s “girlfriend”), and if Perera’s painted portraits are more representational than realistic, they do pose their smiling subjects in outdoorsy garb and settings. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-18.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 80% of actual size.)

An unusually diverse gallery also valuable for calling attention to some less-renowned deeds and doers. (map, index, resource list) (Collective biography. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews