Jocelyn, Marthe. Scribbling Women.

Jocelyn, Marthe. Scribbling Women.
Tundra Books 2011 208p 19.95
978-0-88776-952-8 VG
Jocelyn highlights eleven inspiring women, from various cultures and time periods, who had diverse reasons for writing. Despite various challenges, their writing has left a rich legacy about their lives. Some are famous, such as the journalist, Nellie Bly, others less well-known. Their lives were often brave; one survived a brutal existence in the Arctic during a scientific expedition gone wrong, another lived a cosseted life in Imperial Japan, and yet another was a Vietnamese doctor who perished while writing amidst American bombing in the jungles of Vietnam.
Jocelyn establishes that their lives were bold and that their writings offer a fascinating perspective into challenging lives of these extraordinary women. She has researched her subjects well; for example, when describing Mary Kingsley’s adventures in West Africa, she notes how Kingsley disapproved of King Leopold’s colonization and mistreatment of the people of the Belgian Congo. Jocelyn provides illustrations or photographs of the woman and links each chapter cleverly so that the book flows effortlessly from one story to another. Pieces of the women’s writings are interspersed within the chapters about them, so in addition to reading about them, one gets a feel for their writing style and personality. This is would be a very good title that could enlighten high school readers on how, despite various challenges, writing can leave a rich legacy about the writer’s life.
This is would be a very good title that could enlighten high school readers on how, despite various challenges, writing can leave a rich legacy about the writer’s life. Weinraub, Tina