A review by nerfherder86
Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves, & Other Female Villains by Jane Yolen, Rebecca Guay

4.0

Short biographical sketches, in chronological order, of women who did bad things or were accused thereof, from Delilah and Jezebel to Typhoid Mary and Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame. In between the straight text detailing each woman's life, the excellent illustrations are graphic novel/comic book-style strips of conversations between the two authors, mother Jane Yolen and daughter Heidi Stemple, as they do sometimes amusing "research" (shoe shopping, throwing a party like the spy Rebel Rose, visiting the exotic settings of various crimes), and they debate which of these historical women were really bad and which just were given a bad reputation through history. Why did they commit their crimes? What was their real motivation? Some of the panels are really funny! Also has nice one-page illustrations for each woman, with their name cleverly incorporated into the art, like within part of Salome's veil, or engraved in the castle wall behind Anne Boleyn, or Moll Cutpurse carving her name into the wooden tavern table with her dagger! Includes cute biographies of the authors written as if they are also "bad girls." Lots of bibliography and websites for research on each Bad Girl, although I was disappointed to see Wikipedia cited often. Fun approach to history from a feminist point of view, and maybe the illustrations will draw in a guy or two.