The She Series: 100 Portraits and Essays of Inspiring Icons Whose Actions Changed the World

by Karen Hallion (Illustrator), Caitlin Kennedy (Editor), Mahevash Shaikh (Contributor)

This extraordinary book is a collaboration - a project made up of many different voices and experiences, unified by the stunning artwork of Karen Hallion. It is a celebration of women across time, throughout the world, detailing the extraordinary impact their actions have had upon our culture and our community.

The contributing essayists are not only writing about inspirational women - they are inspirational themselves. They write, they inspire, they express, they collaborate, they enlighten - a literal who’s who of extraordinary people, including Delilah S. Dawson (NYT Bestselling Author), Jody Houser (NYT Bestselling Author), Rosie Knight (Eisner-Award Winning Comics Journalist), Alexandra Love (writer for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon), Sam Maggs (bestselling author of books and comic books), Kate Mulgrew (award-winning actress best-known for her roles in Orange Is the New Black and Star Trek Voyager) and many others.
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The book provides visibility and recognition for the contributions of women throughout history and in contemporary society. By highlighting women's actions, the book will inspire and empower young readers to pursue their goals and achieve success, while also challenging societal norms and expectations. It will also educate them about the many ways in which women have shaped history and influenced social, political, and cultural change.

Beyond being a collection of gorgeous art, She Changed the World is a fun, fascinating gateway into women’s history and its impact upon us all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Womens, History, Feminism

253 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2023

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I helped crowdfund this book on Kickstarter. And I am so happy with the final product. The illustrations are beautiful. The action words truly fit every woman portrayed. And the biographies certainly highlight everything that made every single subject stand out. Not sure which portrait was my favorite- though the Anne Frank one made me get misty-eyed. Excellent job.

[Jen Mays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I’m totally biased because Karen Hallion is one of my favorite artists.

This book covers such a wide range of women—entertainers, politicians, scientists, athletes, and more—spanning history and the present, with representation from all sorts of ages and ethnicities. The essays are written by a diverse group of contributors, and I really appreciate that you get little bios for each author, too. The essays themselves are a bit of a mixed bag audience-wise; some are super personal and reflective, while others feel more like introductions for younger readers. Honestly, it’s the perfect kind of book to leave on your coffee table and flip through whenever you have a few minutes. If you already do regular reading time with your kids, this would be an awesome way to introduce one or two inspiring women each week!

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book start to finish! I’ve followed Karen Hallion for quite a few years now and loved her art the same amount of time.

I love the hopefulness and positivity of this book (lord knows we need it right now). Each story written by different authors throughout the book focus on the life and accomplishments of women with a beautiful artistic picture to accompany it.

I don’t have children but I think this would make a lovely ‘bedtime’ or daily reading with parents to learn and enjoying perhaps finding something you didn’t know about a women throughout history.

I myself found it enjoyable as an adult to enjoy the art pieces and thoughtful stories put together.
Having backed it through Kickstart I also got to see the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ of work that went into to, truly a love and passion project.

Kudos to all that were involved in this!

[Arielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of diverse and inspiring women. Made me tear up a couple times. So many ways to be remarkable. No one is perfect, but your imperfections make you more inspiring not less.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I love the idea behind this book and the illustrations and titles of each essay are wonderful.

However, I wanted more from the writing. There are a lot of writers that contributed to the book, each writing a one-page essay connecting the title to the featured woman. I found the essays to be more simplistic in structure, repeating the title word more often and at times it seemed trying too hard to make it fit. Some were repetitive in wording and ideas and some were choppier than others.

I think that either the essays could’ve been shorter and more informational, or a bit longer with more depth.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not even sure where I first saw Hallion's art, but I do know it was during COVID, because I ordered a poster and had to wait to hang it in my classroom.

This book offers 100 one pagers about strong, wonderful women... some still with us, some not. The diversity is widespread, so any young girl or woman can find someone with whom to identify. Although written in an engaging way to captivate younger readers, it is not too simple for more mature readers. The art, as always is beautiful.

Although this book focuses on real world women, Hallion's art based upon fictional women, and real men should not be missed.... all offer inspiration.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I backed this on Kickstarter. The artwork is incredible. The essays are moving and give great, concise biographies that leave room for you to research further if you want to dive deeper (which I did plenty). There's a good mix between writers that are well known and that are smaller, but all are wonderful. And that goes for the women being written about too, as there were a handful I knew very little about or had not heard of altogether, which encouraged me to look up more about them. Just a super cool collection of essays.

[DORET · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book; however, it can be even better when the race, sexuality, disability, etc. is removed from the writings and each woman honored is celebrated for what she did/does for humanity. Their desire to better the world was evident with each individual and that is what should be celebrated. I will reread this book and savor the accomplishment of all the honorees.

[Alia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any collection of essays, some of them were much better written than others, but it's a cool way to introduce readers to a variety of amazing women.

[Tod Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful way to introduce readers to fascinating women, from both present day and the past. The book was inspired by Karen Hallion's She Series of fictional and real characters, which began around late 2017. Each portrait depicts the woman and a single word that describes their actions…what they do or did to create an impact on the world. I love that the book was a collaborative effort between Karen and several authors, combining Karen's artwork with a writer's description of the woman's life, experiences, and influence.

For the women that I recognized, I still learned something new about them. There were several women I hadn't heard of before reading the book and I'm thankful to have learned about them.

Here are some of my favorites of the women I knew of before She Series: Advance [Nichelle Nichols], Become [Michelle Obama], Delight [Betty White], Dissent [Ruth Bader Ginsberg], Engage [Stacey Abrams], Provoke [Joan Rivers], Stand [Malala Yousafzai], Write [Emily Dickinson].

Here are some of my favorites of the women I learned of through She Series: Activate [Betty Friedan], Be [Isra Hirsi], Climb [Junko Tabei], Defend [Autumn Peltier], Endeavor [Mae Jemison], Evolve [Grace Lee Boggs], Galvanize [Helen Zia], Impact [Rebecca Lee Crumpler], Outwit [Gail Simone], Question [Marjane Satrapi].

By highlighting women's actions, a book can inspire and empower other women to pursue their goals and achieve success, while also challenging societal norms and expectations. It can also educate readers about the many ways in which women have shaped history and influenced social, political, and cultural change. ~Karen Hallion