{"id":39569,"date":"2024-03-22T17:21:49","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T21:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=39569"},"modified":"2024-03-22T17:28:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T21:28:11","slug":"review-of-girls-who-build-by-katie-hughes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=39569","title":{"rendered":"Review of Girls Who Build, by Katie Hughes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Girls Who Build<\/p>\n

Inspiring Curiosity and Confidence to Make Anything Possible<\/em><\/p>\n

by Katie Hughes
\nillustrated by Kay Coenen<\/p>\n

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2020. 258 pages.
\nReview written June 8, 2021, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This book is amazing and inspirational. It\u2019s a high-quality photo book full of photographs of girls who build. Each featured girl has information about them \u2013 first name, age, location, and where they learn \u2013 and then a short interview about their history with building and how building makes them feel. Many of the girls present a project they\u2019ve made, and instructions follow to make the project.<\/p>\n

The book has a glossary and extensive instructions about building at the front. The importance of competent supervision and safety gear are stressed.<\/p>\n

The author and photographer, Katie Hughes, is the founder of Girls Build. I absolutely love the story she tells at the end of her introduction which explains about the camp she runs, teaching girls to use tools:<\/p>\n

On the last day of camp, when the girls are wild, loud, and somewhat preposterous as they tour their parents and guardians around, I make sure to position myself near what is commonly called the chop saw a stationary tool that sits on its own stand and features a 12\u201d blade. Formally, it\u2019s known as a sliding compound miter saw. To operate it, girls must reach up to the handle, hit the trigger, and lower the blade through a piece of wood. To parental eyes, it can look terrifying. It\u2019s time to show off, though, and each girl walks up confidently.<\/p>\n

She does all the prerequisite measuring and safety steps, and finally rests her fingers on the trigger, ready to cut. It\u2019s at that moment that her parents, who have clearly been holding back, look to her and say, \u201cAre you sure you can use this?\u201d It\u2019s like they waited until the last second, knowing they sent her to camp for this very tool, for this very lesson, and for her to use it with confidence. They can\u2019t help themselves \u2013 they even hate themselves for it \u2013 but the words escape their mouths almost involuntarily.<\/p>\n

Then comes the response.<\/p>\n

No matter if she is ten or fourteen, she simultaneously huffs and slowly, meticulously, delivers the best eye roll imaginable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I can use a chop saw,\u201d she mutters, as if a chop saw were a pencil or tricycle or one of those little cars kids push with their feet. Of course she can. Duh.<\/p>\n

She then hits the trigger, her shoulders thrown back in slight defiance, her cut as perfect as if I\u2019d cut it. Then she blows off the sawdust with a little extra swagger.<\/p>\n

I love that swagger. And I\u2019ve started to think of the eye roll as the Girls Build litmus test.<\/p>\n

Did she roller eyes at her parents for doubting her ability to handle the 12\u201d sliding compound miter saw? Yes?<\/p>\n

Mission accomplished.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What follows are photos of and interviews with those confident girls, explaining what building does for them, encouraging other girls to build, and explaining how they made some projects.<\/p>\n

If you give this book to a girl, be prepared to help her find a place where she can learn to build.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t use the book to learn to build (though I was tempted), but I read the whole thing for the delight of seeing those confident faces.<\/p>\n

girlsbuild.org<\/a>
\nblackdogandleventhal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I\u2019m posting the oldest reviews I\u2019ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They\u2019re still good books!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Girls Who Build Inspiring Curiosity and Confidence to Make Anything Possible by Katie Hughes illustrated by Kay Coenen Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2020. 258 pages. Review written June 8, 2021, from a library book Starred Review This book is amazing and inspirational. It\u2019s a high-quality photo book full of photographs of girls who build. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,11,399,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-childrens-nonfiction-review","category-photography","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39569"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43483,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39569\/revisions\/43483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}