What does the road to power look like?
44 short biographies of the women who lead the world. ‘She Represents’ poses the question, Who is representing you?
A YA book that looks to reframe the way we think about politics today. ‘She Represents’ includes profiles of 44 of today’s women leaders from the United States, the Philippines, Mexico, and other world governments. How did they rise to the top? And what are they doing in office? Readers will learn their stories, from childhood to the political agendas they are now pushing in their elected positions.
Illustrated by Briana Arrington, Buy it via Lerner Books in the US & Canada, Amazon in Latin America.
You could say that I’ve been interested politics for awhile. This is me when I was three. My mom ran the San Francisco City College labor archives and my dad was teaching economics at San Francisco State. My parents would take me to labor protests when I was young, and from early on I had a deep respect for the power of collective action.
I ran for student body president when I was in fifth grade and I did years of grueling campaign work for labor unions and progressive politicians in college and just after graduation. Ultimately, I fled what I saw as the combative lifestyle of politics for cultural journalism, though I have always been attractive to politically complex beats like reggaeton and cannabis.
In a challenging and perplexing era, writing ‘She Represents’ felt like a return to something familiar. It was refreshing to focus on the rise of women elected leaders around the world, a rare positive trend in global politics.
what were politicians’ first jobs? have they ever lost an election?
Politicians shouldn’t be our heroines. They should be our representatives. I loved writing ‘She Represents’ because I learned so much about political willpower, moral drive, ambition. The path of women to power in our society can be so extremely descriptive of our world today and how it runs.
What People Are Saying
“A refreshing and timely examination of women and femmes in the political arena.”
“A timely introduction for budding feminists.”
“ This isn’t another fannish ‘girl boss’ book, nor a blindly patriotic celebration of the American political system.”
— Nastia Voynovskaya, associate editor at San Francisco’s KQED Arts & Culture
“must-have title.”
“ This 360-degree look at the influence and ideologies of these leaders will also inspire many young women—and others as well—to bravely fly a banner of their own.”
— Marke Bieschke, author of YA titles Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States and Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens