LIMITLESS: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts by Leah Tinari

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Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts by Leah Tinari
Review Copy from Simon & Schuster
Artist Tinari was inspired to create Limitless while creating a poster of every U.S. president for her young son, who was fascinated with them at the time. In her introduction to this book, she writes that, as she finished one portrait after another, her, "resentment began to grow." Shortly after completing the "presidents project," Tinari woke to the news that Carrie Fisher had died and she determined to honor her with a portrait. The moment she was done, Tinari knew she had a "project brewing." Acknowledging that there is a "'limitless' pool of remarkable women all over this world," Tinari decided to focus on homegrown heroes, as a direct response to her "presidents project."
With a quote from each subject on the verso, Tinari's portrait, enhanced with a background of biographical text, appear on the recto. These paintings are meant to draw readers in and make them want to know more. Back matter includes a miniature repeat of each portrait along with the subject's birthday (and death date, if appropriate) as well as a POWERFUL MOMENT from her life. While the twenty-four women included are not especially racially diverse, they are diverse in their contributions to American history, arts and culture. Starting with Sojourner Truth, Tinari includes women who may be less familiar to young readers like Lozen, an Apache warrior, Annie Oakley, Georgia O'Keefe and Rachel Carson as well as activists like Yuri Kochiyama and Shirley Chisolm. From the world of the arts, Tinari includes Ray Eames, Carol Kaye, Betsey Johnson along with contemporaries like Gilda Radner, Eve Ensler and Tracey Norman. And, heading up the "guts" of the title are Dian Fossey, Shirley Muldowney and Abby Wambach, to name a few.

Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts is probably more portrait than biography, but that's not a problem. Kids are growing up in a visual world where images are often their first experience of anything, and the visuals here are sure to grab their attention!






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