Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson are podcast hosts (What's Her Name) and sisters who worked together to create this fascinating middle-grade historical retrospective of 33 extraordinary sororal bonds. The Book of Sisters begins with ancient folklore and then moves through time to showcase the real-life struggles and triumphant moments of the historical siblings.
The collection includes modern-day icons readers are likely to recognize, such as tennis pros Venus and Serena Williams, British royalty Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret and the mountaineering duo Tashi and Nungshi Malik. Through these and similar duos, Meikle and Nelson demonstrate the immense source of strength sisters can be for each other as they wield unconditional love like a superpower. But not every example of sisterhood included is one to emulate. Several of the relationships highlighted are fraught with tension or tragedy: Mughal Empire princesses Jahanara and Roshanara Begum found themselves on opposing sides of a deadly battle between their brothers; sisters Lum Guey and How Jiu would eventually be separated for life because of the Chinese Civil War.
The authors astutely draw parallels to pivotal global events--the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment and World War II--throughout the text, which is visually supplemented with eye-catching illustrations. Meikle and Nelson use historical examples to prove there's nothing females of the same lineage can't accomplish when committed to working as a team. --Rachel Werner, author and teaching artist at Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshop and The Loft Literary Center