Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts

by Leah Tinari

Fine artist Leah Tinari’s portraits honor the achievements and impact of twenty-four American women. These women’s dreams were without boundaries; their accomplishments limitless in their reach and lasting power.

Tinari’s list is comprised of trailblazers, whose vision, grit, and guts paved the way not only for the generations to come, but for Tinari’s own artistic journey. These women include Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, Julia Child, Shirley Chisholm, Ellen Degeneres, Ray Eames, Eve Ensler, Carrie Fisher, Dian Fossey, Aretha Franklin, Betsey Johnson, Carol Kaye, Yuri Kochiyama, Liz Lambert, Lozen, Shirley Muldowney, Tracey Norman, Annie Oakley, Georgia O’Keefe, Dolly Parton, Kimberly Pierce, Gilda Radner, Sojourner Truth, and Abby Wambach.

Their contributions to the arts, education, science, politics, civil rights, fashion, design, technology, and sports are enduring and noteworthy. Courage, perseverance, brilliance, and passion were the guiding, groundbreaking principles for these diverse women who span the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Picture Books, Art, Feminism, History, Inspirational

56 pages, Hardcover

Published November 6, 2018

Reviews

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork in this book is amazing and honestly, I can see people buying two copies. One to keep as the book and the other to take the book apart and frame the art. The book tells a few brief facts about 24 Amazing women throughout history to present day. I would love to see another book like this from the author. Incredible women and men. I highly recommend this beautiful book.

[Annese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the art! Underwhelmed by the individual descriptions. These women deserved more then just a famous quote and bullet points.

[Lisa Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book so damn much, that I know I will be talking about it a lot. A lovely and inclusive collection of remarkable American women.

[Cindy Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Leah Tinari completed portraits of the U.S. presidents for her son, she found herself frustrated that all the portraits were of men. That experience, plus her reflection on the life and death of actress Carrie Fisher, inspired her to create 24 portraits of American women who were trailblazers in many ways. Each portrait includes bio information that becomes part of the art. Tinari added quotes either from or about each featured woman to create Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts.

In a note at the beginning of the book, Tinari says she wanted to celebrate each woman’s vision, uniqueness, and perseverance, and share their achievements with a larger audience. She also wanted to show her son that women could be role models.

Tinari included women who broke ground in music, sports, acting, comedy, politics, fashion, and more. Each portrait is lively, colorful, and compelling. Biographical facts frame each face, which makes it easy to get an overall picture of the personality of the person featured. The oversized format packs visual punch while also making the facts quick to read.

Among the women featured are Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, Shirley Chisholm, Ellen Degeneres, Carrie Fisher, Georgia O’Keefe, Dolly Parton, Gilda Radner, and many more. The book finishes with a brief note of each woman that includes birth and death dates as well as a notation on one powerful moment in each life. I highly recommend Limitless for readers aged 10 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Bethany M. Edwards]

Fine artist Leah Tinari’s stunning, spellbinding portraits honor the groundbreaking achievements and indelible impact of twenty-four extraordinary American women.
These women’s dreams were without boundaries; their accomplishments limitless in their reach and lasting power.
This book is SURE to change the world of children's literature. I have never seen artwork and text combined in a book like this for children and I KNOW kids young and old are going to feel that this book makes reading "cool" again.
Tinari’s list is comprised of trailblazers, whose vision, grit, and guts paved the way not only for the generations to come, but for Tinari’s own artistic journey.
These women include Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, Julia Child, Shirley Chisholm, Ellen Degeneres, Ray Eames, Eve Ensler, Carrie Fisher, Dian Fossey, Aretha Franklin, and more.

Their contributions to the arts, education, science, politics, civil rights, fashion, design, technology, and sports are enduring and noteworthy.
Courage, perseverance, brilliance, and passion were the guiding, groundbreaking principles for these diverse women.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was lucky enough to hear the author and illustrator speak about the project idea and how it developed. The editor seemed to hint at more books to follow.
This work is 24 American women of vision, grit, and guts. Even putting on the specifier of American, there are so many choices, Tinari chose women that were meaningful or had some connection to her.
We saw the beautiful Terry Gross page that didn’t make it into this book-but hopefully into a future volume.
Great teen book that readers might find some names they’ve never heard of and inspire the reader to find out more. Beautiful portraits.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit of a gamble for my oldest niece who, while a precocious young lady (what uncle would argue otherwise about his own niece?) didn’t quite connect to the book and its content. She was definitely interested in the lives of these 24 remarkable women; however, she just couldn’t get into the art style and typography. My guess is that she really needs a couple more years before she returns to this book, but I definitely enjoyed the artwork and typography. I’m also a bit biased, because Tinari included some of my favorite women (Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Gilda Radner, Carrie Fisher).

[Emmy Kirkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Biography
Grade Level: 1-4

This book was so good and I loved the illustrations and how powerful they were! This book featured 24 different impressive American women. I loved the pops of
color and the bold outline of the women in the illustrations. I enjoyed getting to learn about different women that I had never heard of before. I think this would be a great book to have in a classroom because of the wonderful gender representation, as well as the diversity among the women. It’s a super creative way to learn about impactful women.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of quotes and paintings of incredible American women gathered by a painter. I like that this includes many women that aren't often, if ever, mentioned in books for kids. I will caution you that this one is for older children - I'd say at least fourth grade and up, the publisher suggests 10 and up. I think this falls in the category of "not for me" but I can appreciate that it is striking, unique, and inspiring. 

[Carly Bontrager · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biography
4th-6th grade
I didn’t really enjoy this book. There were certain things that the book talked about that I don’t think I would want me students reading about. Of course, with our world today they may have already been exposed to things like transgenders, LGBT rights, and those sensitive issues, but I wouldn’t want this book in my classroom. I think it would be controversial for some families. However, I do really enjoy the illustrations in this book.

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the idea of this book. The introduction is great and the paintings are beautiful. I love the wide variety of women chosen (as I always love-- some I knew, some I didn't). My only BUT is that the font on the paintings if often difficult to read. The stencil-style sans serif is really difficult to interpret on occasions, to the point that I wished there would be a transcription at the back of the book. There is not, but there is interesting additional information on each woman featured.

[JoEllen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this unique interpretation of inspirational American women. Each page has art/graffiti style images and brief text including quotes connected to women who were “limitless” in their pursuit for love, justice, self and more. Love the possibilities for content connections and including art/expression. Hope there are more to come!

[Valleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is meant to inspire young females and be a sort of rally cry for a need of feminism in general, it does fall short of its mark. The pages are overcrowded, though the illustrations are beautifully done, and the overall flow is compromised because it looks so busy. And though I admire the author's attempt at inclusivity, representation of women of color was tangibly lacking.

[Makenna Eash · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nonfiction Biography
Grades 4-6
This book was very interesting to me in theory, but for me, the words were hard to read because they were formatted around the "headshot" in a font that was hard to decipher. I was really looking forward to this book because I think it is important for young students to find good role models, especially women! If it was easier to read, I would have liked it!

[Zahnii (Suzanne) Artis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love these neon-accented watercolor portraits. They are artsy infographics about amazing women. Favorites include Lozen, Aretha, Dolly and Sojourner. I learned some new names too: Yuri Kochiyama, Ray Eames, Betsy Johnson (born in Wethersfield, CT!) and Tracy Norman. Also never knew that Dian Fossey was murdered! Overall beautiful book and would love to display each portrait.

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely more of a quick introduction / art book than a true biography collection, but I still loved it. The images are striking and beautiful, and the chosen subjects are a nice mix of frequently mentioned and less well-known women.

[Via Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book to inspire women, girls and even boys to be and do their best through simple art and quotes. I can't wait to gift this to my girl scouts! READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE-- http://bit.ly/2Ua1mcF

[Elaine Fultz, Teacher Librarian, MLS · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the sea of all the books published to celebrate women these last few years, this is my favorite. The overall page design and color palette are as unique as the women chosen to highlight. From intermediate grades to HS art classes, this book is a must.

[Katherine Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for any girl that needs confidence! I read this and I saw myself in some of the quotes written by famous woman. I would definitely recommend this book to many different people. For example little girls can read this or even girls in high school or college.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations are unique and wonderful. Each person has a quote attributed to their name. Very little information given about each person.

[Krystie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really lovely. Very much a coffee table kind of book and some of the text is hard to read but just gorgeous.

[Michelle Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the quotes and paintings used in this book. Sometimes the text around the paintings was a bit hard to read, though.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool art with some inspiring quotes from some kick-ass women.

[Ranell Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this picture book is a perfect start to research on important women in history. The artwork pops and the quotes are very inspiring to start a unit of study.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fan of the artwork by the author but loved her pick of strong women with limitless vision.

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books I want to give 100 score too and a zero. It has a lot going on and it is something you have to personally experience.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-executed collection of posters that cover an interesting variety of women.

[Amanda Walz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it didn't read as a biography, or at least how I thought it was going to read. It has amazing portraits though.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars