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Bad Girls

Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves and Other Female Villains

Author Jane Yolen, Heidi E. Y. Stemple
Illustrated by Rebecca Guay
Paperback
$9.95 US
Charlesbridge
6.06"W x 9"H x 0.46"D   | 14 oz | 28 per carton
On sale Sep 08, 2015 | 172 Pages | 9781580891868
Age 9-12 years | Grades 4-7
Reading Level: Lexile 800L | Fountas & Pinnell Z
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From Jezebel to Catherine the Great, from Cleopatra to Mae West, from Mata Hari to Bonnie Parker, strong women have been a problem for historians, storytellers, and readers. Strong females smack of the unfeminine. They have been called wicked, wanton, and willful. Sometimes that is a just designation, but just as often it is not. "Well-behaved women seldom make history," is the frequently quoted statement by historian and feminist Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. But what makes these misbehaving women "bad"? Are we idolizing the wicked or salvaging the strong?

In BAD GIRLS, readers meet twenty-six of history’s most notorious women, each with a rotten reputation. But authors Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple remind us that there are two sides to every story. Was Delilah a harlot or hero? Was Catherine the Great a great ruler, or just plain ruthless? At the end of each chapter, Yolen and Stemple appear as themselves in comic panels as they debate each girl’s badness—Heidi as the prosecution, Jane for context.

This unique and sassy examination of famed, female historical figures will engage readers with its unusual presentation of the subject matter. Heidi and Jane’s strong arguments for the innocence and guilt of each bad girl promotes the practice of critical thinking as well as the idea that history is subjective. Rebecca Guay’s detailed illustrations provide a rich, stylized portrait of each woman, while the inclusion of comic panels will resonate with fans of graphic novels.
Jane Yolen is the award-winning author of over three hundred children's books including Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs and Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs, Bad Girls (with Heidi E. Y. Stemple); Owl Moon, a Caldecott Medal Winner; the How Do Dinosaurs . . . ? series, and Sea Queens. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of the Americas. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and Scotland. View titles by Jane Yolen
Heidi E. Y. Stemple View titles by Heidi E. Y. Stemple
Rebecca Guay View titles by Rebecca Guay
There are more bad girls in history than we can count: murderesses, drunkards, torturers, batterers, fences, slatterns, liars, layabouts, and total louts, as well as wicked mothers, grandmothers, and stepmothers. The list is endless, even though females are supposedly the gentler sex.
            Often, though, a tough girl, an outspoken girl—an active, smart, forward-looking girl—is mistaken for a bad one. A strong leader is considered a wrong leader when that leader is female.
            In this book we are taking a look back through history at all manner of famous female felons. We’re looking at the baddest of the bad, as well as those who may have been just misunderstood. The crimes in question happened hundreds, even thousands, of years ago—and some of them may have never happened at all. Our bad girls are a mixed bag. Some committed criminal acts, some morally wrong acts. Some acts are, perhaps, less criminal than justifiable, brave, or even committed in self-defense. We cannot compare badness by counting bodies. After all, do three hundred Protestants burned at the stake by Queen Mary outweigh the two that Lizzie Borden was accused (though acquitted) of killing? Nor can we compare badness by measuring crimes—Pearl Hart’s stagecoach robbery might seem tame in comparison to Salome’s hand in a great prophet’s execution. Each bad girl can only be judged standing on her own.
            Everyone is entitled to her own opinion, and you will see ours. We certainly don’t always agree with each other, and we don’t expect you to agree with us either. Every crime—no matter how heinous—comes with its own set of circumstances, aggravating and mitigating, which can tip the scales of guilt. And views change. The line between right and wrong, criminal and hero, good girl and bad, is sometimes very thin. Though some acts—and some girls—will always be bad through and through.
Copyright © 2015 by Jane Yolen (Author); Heidi E. Y. Stemple (Author); Rebecca Guay (Illustrator). All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About

From Jezebel to Catherine the Great, from Cleopatra to Mae West, from Mata Hari to Bonnie Parker, strong women have been a problem for historians, storytellers, and readers. Strong females smack of the unfeminine. They have been called wicked, wanton, and willful. Sometimes that is a just designation, but just as often it is not. "Well-behaved women seldom make history," is the frequently quoted statement by historian and feminist Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. But what makes these misbehaving women "bad"? Are we idolizing the wicked or salvaging the strong?

In BAD GIRLS, readers meet twenty-six of history’s most notorious women, each with a rotten reputation. But authors Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple remind us that there are two sides to every story. Was Delilah a harlot or hero? Was Catherine the Great a great ruler, or just plain ruthless? At the end of each chapter, Yolen and Stemple appear as themselves in comic panels as they debate each girl’s badness—Heidi as the prosecution, Jane for context.

This unique and sassy examination of famed, female historical figures will engage readers with its unusual presentation of the subject matter. Heidi and Jane’s strong arguments for the innocence and guilt of each bad girl promotes the practice of critical thinking as well as the idea that history is subjective. Rebecca Guay’s detailed illustrations provide a rich, stylized portrait of each woman, while the inclusion of comic panels will resonate with fans of graphic novels.

Author

Jane Yolen is the award-winning author of over three hundred children's books including Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs and Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs, Bad Girls (with Heidi E. Y. Stemple); Owl Moon, a Caldecott Medal Winner; the How Do Dinosaurs . . . ? series, and Sea Queens. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of the Americas. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and Scotland. View titles by Jane Yolen
Heidi E. Y. Stemple View titles by Heidi E. Y. Stemple
Rebecca Guay View titles by Rebecca Guay

Excerpt

There are more bad girls in history than we can count: murderesses, drunkards, torturers, batterers, fences, slatterns, liars, layabouts, and total louts, as well as wicked mothers, grandmothers, and stepmothers. The list is endless, even though females are supposedly the gentler sex.
            Often, though, a tough girl, an outspoken girl—an active, smart, forward-looking girl—is mistaken for a bad one. A strong leader is considered a wrong leader when that leader is female.
            In this book we are taking a look back through history at all manner of famous female felons. We’re looking at the baddest of the bad, as well as those who may have been just misunderstood. The crimes in question happened hundreds, even thousands, of years ago—and some of them may have never happened at all. Our bad girls are a mixed bag. Some committed criminal acts, some morally wrong acts. Some acts are, perhaps, less criminal than justifiable, brave, or even committed in self-defense. We cannot compare badness by counting bodies. After all, do three hundred Protestants burned at the stake by Queen Mary outweigh the two that Lizzie Borden was accused (though acquitted) of killing? Nor can we compare badness by measuring crimes—Pearl Hart’s stagecoach robbery might seem tame in comparison to Salome’s hand in a great prophet’s execution. Each bad girl can only be judged standing on her own.
            Everyone is entitled to her own opinion, and you will see ours. We certainly don’t always agree with each other, and we don’t expect you to agree with us either. Every crime—no matter how heinous—comes with its own set of circumstances, aggravating and mitigating, which can tip the scales of guilt. And views change. The line between right and wrong, criminal and hero, good girl and bad, is sometimes very thin. Though some acts—and some girls—will always be bad through and through.
Copyright © 2015 by Jane Yolen (Author); Heidi E. Y. Stemple (Author); Rebecca Guay (Illustrator). All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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