SHE'S ON THE MONEY

Few women have appeared on currency; here are some who have.

A brief history of money introduces short biographies paired to appealing illustrations of women and the bills or coins they’ve appeared on. Those discussed—Cleopatra, Maria Sibylla Merian, Sacagawea, Ichiyо̄ Higuchi, and Queen Sа̄lote Tupou III, for example—are politicians, scientists, activists, artists, educators, and writers from different continents and countries, racial and ethnic groups. Some faces will be familiar to U.S. readers, while others will offer new inspiration. However, even given a collection’s spatial constraints, relevant facts are not always present (the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are listed as martyrs, but their assassinations go unmentioned; Eva Perón declined a vice presidential nomination, but reasons why—cancer and purported police opposition—are unstated), which seems a lost opportunity to provide substantial content and context. Changes—Lady Liberty’s new identity as a Black woman, Harriet Tubman’s upcoming appearance as the first African American on a U.S. bill—are included, yet the text does not discuss racism. The connections between the roles and rights of women and the reasons why few women have appeared on money are implicit and may not always be apparent to younger readers. Still, what’s striking and effective here are the range and wealth of strong women and their accomplishments from different corners of the world.

An interesting cross-curricular concept with a feminist slant (and some gaps).