Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World was the kind of book I wished I'd had as a child. Pénélope Bagieu fills this book with a diverse range of women and offers short snippets into their lives, achievements, and setbacks. This would have been so powerful to read as a young girl to see women in all roles in society, standing up for what they believed in and being successful in their own right. I still don't think we have enough female-led stories out there that encourage young girls to be whatever they can be. I'm very lucky that my parents always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, and believed in me, although I think part of that was as a result of being an only child. This book was just so feminist and so great in the very basic messages it gave out, I honestly loved it.

From a historical perspective her short story snippets are not perfect, but I think with historical figures like these women there are always an element of interpretation, an element of undocumented history (in cases of the older figures) and elements of the unknown. I also think there are cases where you discuss women in the colonial period, and white women exploring Africa and to get a nuanced understanding of the negative consequences of that kind of history through a graphic novel is really hard. However, Bagieu accepts and caveats that this book is not supposed to be a full exploration of these women's lives and that she hopes it will encourage the readers to find more.

The elements I liked most about Bagieu's book was that these women were not always as they appeared. Some of them may have been movie-stars or famous figures but they also had brains and wits. These women managed to have other achievements that were not based on what people expected of them. Bagieu had inventors, scientists, warriors, movie-stars, everyday women. She also had women with disabilities, women of different ethnic groups, races, religions, sexuality and this level of diversity was heart-warming and inspiring. It offered a woman, that I hope most young girls could see something of themselves in. Furthermore, lots of these women I'd never heard of, and I really liked that there were these hidden stories of women I didn't know.

I enjoyed this book because of the inspiration it offers young girls, the fact that it showed women as strong, capable and successful. It was inspiring for me. The art style was fun and easy to read and I liked that I could read a few women's stories at a time and easily dip in and out of the book. I think the most powerful story for me was the story about Las Mariposas from the Dominican Republic. Four sister who opposed El Jefe, Rafael Trujillo. Their story was powerful and is now the reason we have the International Day of Violence Against women on November 25th. The day they were killed by El Jefe's government. I think it made a powerful statement.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I really want to get my own copy as I had a library edition.