Mightier than the sword: Rebels, reformers, and revolutionaries who changed the world through writing by Rochelle Melander, illustrated by Melina Ontiveros

  This collection of biographies has an unusual theme; Famous people who changed the world through their writing. It starts in early history with people like Murasaki Shikibu, who created the first novel, and Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta who wrote chronicles of his travels. Although it includes a wide range of people, it does tend to focus on Westerners and Americans, with a large number of portraits of writers during and after the Civil War, from Sojourner Truth to Booker T. Washington. Some of those included will surprise readers, who may be more familiar with them not as authors but in other capacities such as Florence Nightingale. It leads up to the present day with activists Sophie Cruz, Malala Yousafzai, and Sonita Alizadeh.

Within each profile are additional, briefer profiles of people with similar stories and interests, not always from the same time period. There are pieces placed between the collections of biographies focusing on the Declaration of Independence, screenplays, the printing press, and the history of comics. Each profile ends with suggestions for readers on their own writing projects, activism, and inspiration and the book as a whole ends with tips and advice on becoming a writer, whether as a journalist, novelist, graphic artist, or activist.

Each profile is illustrated with artist's depictions of the people included, as well as smaller pictures of their subjects, homeland, or backgrounds. I reviewed this from a pdf, so I did not see a final version of the layout - the table of contents was not complete and there were errors in the galley which I assume will be fixed in the print version (a few minor typos, some disorganization, etc.).

I did feel a little uneasy about some of the writing suggestions; some of them felt trivial or too light-hearted after the serious subject-matter. For example, it feels odd to read a story about the Scholl siblings being executed for writing critiques of the government and then suggesting kids write critiques of their government or school. I don't know how you would do it differently, it just felt... odd. The profiles are necessarily brief, and sometimes there's a lot of context that goes unsaid.

Verdict: I would recommend this as a supplementary book to go along with social studies or writing. There are lots of great ideas and many interesting people to encourage kids into further research and to try different types of writing. I do think this is one that will benefit from some gatekeeping - I wouldn't say every classroom should do all the activities, but consider whether surrounding them with additional discussions or bringing in a speaker with personal experience in those cultures or history will be more relevant or appropriate for your students.

ISBN: 9781506466408; Published July 2021 by Beaming Books; Egalley provided by author; Purchased for the library