Review Detail

The ABCs of Women's History

Kids Nonfiction 318

Inclusive and Wide Ranging History Book

January 12, 2025 (Updated: June 08, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Learning Value

4.0

Not content to list just one person, event, or term per alphabet letter, Rio Cortez (The ABCs of Black History) takes a deep dive into history and fourth wave feminism in this rhyming picture book. Appropriately, under BOOKS we see several different authors, including Joan Didion, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Maya Angelou, and continue all the way through to Zora Neal Huston's zeal. Some of the concepts are more abstract, like "knowledge" and "dreaming", but other letters get more concrete examples, like the very necessary addition of Ms. Magazine. A wide range of historical figures and movements is covered.

Good Points

t the end of the book, there is a very complete listing of all of the topics covered arranged under each letter, so the people are given dates and a brief of their activities and influences. Movements, events, and terms relating to women's history are also explained. This makes the book much more useful for research, since the entries give young readers enough details to use to locate more complete discussions of the topics.

The entries are all very poetic, usually employing meter and an almost Emily Dickinso partial rhyme scheme. I can see this being a popular read aloud choice for Women's History Month.

The illustrations are striking and modern, as well as very colorful. The people portrayed are very diverse, with different ethnicities, body types, and identifications. There is definitely a very modern, updated sensibility in the approach to feminism.

Collective biographies are always a great way to introduce readers to a variety of people of whom they may never have heard. Have The ABCs of Women's History available all year long, but especially in March, for readers who enjoyed Colors of Awesome!: 24 Bold Women Who Inspired the World Chen and Desierto, Stand Up!: 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change by Cooper and Johnson, 101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Adams and Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Hood, Blackall, and Martin.