I’m a sucker for nonfiction compendiums that chronicle the lives of interesting people in short digestible vignettes, which is not only evident here with Wonder Women, but with the forthcoming review for Rejected Princesses.

In March of my sophomore year of high school, my stepfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was given months to live, but through a cutting edge surgery that summer, we were able to have another four years with him before he passed away in the spring of my sophomore year of college. His diagnosis led me to consider a future in biomedical engineering – specifically the artificial organ project, being pioneered at Boston University. I made it my life goal to become a medical researcher and was a founding member of my high school’s STEM Savvy group. Lady researchers and mathematicians have always held a special place in my heart, and while I did not fully pursue a career in STEM, I will always look at ladies like Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, and Ada Lovelace as role models and inspiration.

Sam Maggs obviously cares for and respects not only the 25 women she profiles, but also the women whom she interviews regarding contemporary issues with women’s roles in the STEM world. She handles the discussion of feminism and sexism in primarily male roles of engineering, science, technology and mathematics with an understanding of someone who has experienced some of the issues her foremothers did. ( )

As a woman in STEM, I always like to read more about other women in STEM. This book introduced me to a lot of interesting women, but the language in this book was just way to trying-too-hard-to-be-trendy-and-cool. I understand that I'm probably not the target age group to have read the book, but it made me roll my eyes multiple times. Even if younger kids enjoyed reading this, I imagine it would go out of date pretty rapidly considering the speed at which language changes these days. ( )

Periodically I find myself wondering if the non-fiction genre will survive the assault of the millennials. This book is no exception; it is rather superficial, which is okay, since the author wants to cover a lot of women, and isn't writing full biographies of any (though they could have fleshed out more. This isn't a terribly long book). The author's continual parenthetical comments begin to grate quickly, especially since they appear to be what she perceives as wit, and some of them actually are witty. Most, however, are just repetitions of things that weren't particularly amusing or enlightening the first time she said them. The main complaint with this book is that every entry reads more like a blog post than a part of a book. So this book essentially was written for people who don't read books (especially non-fiction) and so would never pick up the book to begin with. That said, I did find the collection interesting, and while I was familiar with many of these women, there were others I had not heard of, and it was interesting to hear about these women. The interviews with current "wonder women" were not particularly interesting or enlightening, and either should have been left out (which would have allowed more room to cover the various women that got shortchanged or left out), or they should have been conducted by a more skilled interviewer. Overall, a mixed bag, but still recommended, especially if you like millennial type humor and prefer reading blogs to books. ( )

In Wonder Women, readers (presumably in the tween-teenage age range) are introduced to twenty-five female scientists, engineers, adventurers, and inventors in chapters divided into five parts: Women of Science, Women of Medicine, Women of Espionage, Women of Innovation and Women of Adventure.

This book has some great information in it, but I was kind of turned off by the “hipster” tone of it. The author kept referring to “dudes” instead of males or men, and “butt-kicking chicks” or “bad-as-heck babes.” Then there was the “Valley Speak,” as in “Zhenyi . .. would totally be hosting Cosmos were she alive today,” (although, admittedly, I doubt any Valley Speaker would be familiar with the subjunctive mood), and interjections like “What even?”

I did like the choice of women to highlight, and I thought the author did a good job at winnowing down the biographical information to present the most interesting or relevant pieces of these women's lives. Maybe the tone is geared toward winning over “reluctant readers,” but I would like to think that we can expect kids to learn to communicate by using all the breadth and beauty of the English language instead of what sounds “cool.”

The book also includes illustrations by Google doodler Sophia Foster-Dimino, a bibliography, and interviews with present-day woman working in STEM fields.

Evaluation: While this book is not without some merit, I think there are better choices for kids to learn about women in science, such as Women In Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky. ( )