In the spirit of She Persisted, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls , and Rad American A-Z , acclaimed artist Leah Tinari offers a spectacular collection of portraits, celebrating iconic, inspirational, and groundbreaking American women. Fine artist Leah Tinari’s stunning, spellbinding portraits honor the groundbreaking achievements and indelible impact of twenty-four extraordinary American women. These women’s dreams were without boundaries; their accomplishments limitless in their reach and lasting power. Tinari’s list is comprised of trailblazers, whose vision, grit, and guts paved the way not only for the generations to come, but for Tinari’s own artistic journey. These women include Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, Julia Child, Shirley Chisholm, Ellen Degeneres, Ray Eames, Eve Ensler, Carrie Fisher, Dian Fossey, Aretha Franklin, Betsey Johnson, Carol Kaye, Yuri Kochiyama, Liz Lambert, Lozen, Shirley Muldowney, Tracey Norman, Annie Oakley, Georgia O’Keefe, Dolly Parton, Kimberly Pierce, Gilda Radner, Sojourner Truth, and Abby Wambach. Their contributions to the arts, education, science, politics, civil rights, fashion, design, technology, and sports are enduring and noteworthy. Courage, perseverance, brilliance, and passion were the guiding, groundbreaking principles for these diverse women who span the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Gr 6 Up-With strokes and washes of day-glo lime and tangerine, Tinari brings streetwise styling to the portraits of 24 "dynamic doers, makers, creators, innovators, and fighters" in this collection. Using bold black, swaths of charcoal accents, and pops of bright color, Tinari renders a roughly life-size face on each recto page, surrounded by birth and death dates, phrases, quotes, and a life highlight or two. A short quote (and an "accidental" paint splotch or watery blot) stands alone on verso pages. Most women gaze directly at readers, surrounded by words that squeeze on, tumble off, and crowd into nearly all the white spaces. Paint spatters, pointing arrows, and exclamation points lend additional energy to each portrait. The roughly chronological arrangement begins with Sojourner Truth and ends with soccer superstar Abby Wambach. Louisa May Alcott, Yuri Kochiyama, Aretha Franklin, and Ellen Degeneres also appear. The engaging portraits, brief text, and approachable layout make this a solid middle school browse, and a stepping stone to deeper explorations. VERDICT Consider for large middle school libraries.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TXα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Leah Tinari has a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After graduation, she moved to New York City and since that time has been a scenic painter; a freelance illustrator whose work has appeared in The New Yorker , Vice , Spin , Elle , and Paper magazines; a teacher at Parsons New School; and a restaurant owner. Leah has also created campaigns for Nike and Mini Cooper automobiles. Her fine art has been shown in galleries around the world and is also privately collected. She lives in the East Village with her husband and son.