I got an ARC of this book.

I am not a fan of the art. It just didn’t click with me for some reason. I don’t know why. So that really made it hard to enjoy a picture book.

The story itself was really simplistic, which was both good and bad. The story was watered down for kids, but not sure the whole sex workers being assaulted by police would have been appropriate for a four year old. The issue is it took a lot of the power from the story. It made it make no sense why the police, who are supposed to be the good guy and are the good guy in kids media, would suddenly be arresting women. It took so much of the context away.

I was really happy that Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Johnson were the stars of the picture book though! It is wonderful to see they are being honored and that more people will know their names and their bravery. So I am really torn on this book. I wanted it to exist, but it is just so hard to get it just right. It is really hard to talk about police brutality and other more intense subjects in a picture book.

I did like that there were reading guides and an activity guide for parents in the back. It opened up for more education. It allowed the true story to be a true story. It gave more context that was lacking in the text itself.

This book is amazing. I love that it's as kid friendly as possible without dumbing anything down. I learned new things while reading this. I love that the author included fun activities as well as other resources.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

Whilst learning about Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera is incredibly important, I felt like this book had a few inaccuracies. I don't know that much about Marsha or Sylvia other than what I have seen in documentaries but some of the things in this book don't make sense. For example, the stonewall riot wasn't on Marsha's birthday. Either the book or the documentaries could be wrong so I personally feel like I have to fact check this.

The art is great and it flows really nice, the glossary includes terms that are not in the book but I like that they are there because it opens up more terms for children and is more inclusive of other identities.

Rating
3⭐

Would I read it again:
Not Sure

Would I recommend it:
Not Sure

This picture book showcases two amazing trans women of color! It's the Stonewall Riots in children's book format. Plus a glimpse into these two women's lives. This book addresses homelessness. Police are seen as the antagonist, but in a way that is children appropriate.

After the story, there's plenty of additional resources. There are details and information so that adults can give some context to children who have additional questions. And so the adults have that information for themselves as well. There are even external resources. And some activities.

The events shown in this book are made appropriate for children so not all the details are there.

I give this book a 5/5. I love seeing books like this for children. Especially showcasing trans women of color from history.

Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution! is a non-fiction picture book about 2 transgendered women living in NYC in the late 1960s. At that point in time, transgendered women could be arrested simply for dressing in women's clothing. Sylvia and Marsha were best friends and felt bad about the treatment of transgendered women. They regularly gave homeless transgendered people money and helped support them in other ways. One evening, Sylvia and Marsha helped start a revolution as part of the Stonewall Rebellion. They freed transgendered women who had been put in a van by the police...simply for dressing in women's clothing.

This picture book is good for older elementary aged kids and is a good way to teach about equal rights and LGBTQ+ history. This book could inspire kids to be more understanding of others.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sylvia & Marsha Start a Revolution is an illustrated book about how Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson defied police intimidation and started the Stonewall Rebellion. Their inspirational story is delightfully illustrated in this gorgeous children’s book about sisterhood, community, and bravery.

This book was such a pace breaker for me. I don’t often read children’s books like this, but when I do it is so that I can find books for students at my school that are new to English, or for the tiny children that are in my life!

This book tells an important story that is often ignored in education, as there is a lack of LGBTQ+ history on the curriculum. The language is simple and accessible without diminishing the important message of tolerance and acceptance, which will help parents and teachers alike explain Marsha & Sylvia’s story in a simple and clear way. It also explains what it means to be transgender, which is a concept that isn’t openly and consistently explained in schools at the moment, and teaches children an important lesson on tolerance and acceptance.

The illustrations are full of diverse and interesting characters, with vibrant colours and beautiful clothes that will encourage young children to read and engage with this book. Marsha and Sylvia literally glow, which is one of my favourite parts of Silver’s illustration style.

There is a section at the end for educators and parents which includes follow up questions and activities which is a lovely touch. It allows parents the opportunity to further educate themselves while they engage and inspire their children.

A delightful children’s book that I will be buying for the little people in my life!

This is a beautiful and very NEEDED short book for children to understand who Sylvia and Marsha were and how importante they were to our story.

As an LGTB person I am so happy this book exists.

What a great introduction to LGBTQ+ history! This book is great for parents who are also just learning about the historical Stonewall riots and transgender history - it introduces the most basic of concepts surrounding the continued struggle for equal rights with a story designed for the most sensitive readers.

Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were two of the founding mothers of the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights. This beautiful picture book, introducing children to their lives and work while also encouraging them to engage in their own forms of protest, is a must-read for everyone in the family.

As a member of the Notable Books for a Global Society Selection Committee, I am not ready to give feedback for this book as it is under consideration for the list.

Easy to follow picture book that tells children the story of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera and the Stonewall Riots in a simplified version.

The illustrations were simple and effective, the text short, each page able to stand on its own, enabling even small children to understand what is happening.

I liked the extra resources at the end. There's a glossary, short extra biographies and event descriptions, as well as activities to do with children, from discussion prompts to building a protest sign or making a flower crown. While they seem to be more aimed towards guardians reading the book with children, it's written simply enough for children to follow on their own too.

The book also directly tells the reader that it's more of a retelling than a biography or historically accurate, being upfront about being only one retelling of the events.
I also thought it was good that the book encourages guardians to talk to children about gender and queerness without having to be experts about it, instead teaching them to be open to anyone.

What I found a bit curious was the choice of calling it Stonewall rebellion rather than Stonewall riots. I for one are much more familiar with them being called the latter.
While I appreciate the simplicity of the text and pictures, I also found them a bit disconnected. This might have been a deliberate choice to make this accessible to very young children, but to me it also felt like it traded away some of its overall coherence for that.
There were also some inconsistent choices, like stating the date of the beginning of the Stonewall Riots in the text without previously setting the story in a specific time or place at all.

This was cute and it is SO important for there to be stories for kids about trans women of color, but this also definitely oversimplified Marsha & Sylvia's stories and the history of Stonewall. I also found the writing to be a bit choppy.

This book is historically inaccurate. The Stonewall Riots did not start on Marsha's birthday (her birthday was in August). Sylvia Rivera was not present. I could find no evidence of Marsha liberating a police truck full of arrested individuals or dancing in the street that night in my (admittedly brief and limited) research into the subject. I felt the author was glib about Marsha and Sylvia's extreme poverty and homelessness even while trying to show their giving natures. The glossary and activities in the back of the book are too numerous and stray off topic. Protest signs are not mentioned in the book - why is there a "make a sign" activity? Even though Marsha is famously depicted as wearing a flower crown it doesn't seem necessary to have a crown craft in the book. The glossary felt unnecessary - beyond transgender, the other terms did not appear in the rest of the book, making them superfluous. I wanted to love this book. I have been wanting a biography of Marsha P. Johnson for kids, but this can't be it.

This review is based on digitial review copy provided by NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers. The review is cross-posted to Goodreads and Instagram.

It always makes me feel so good that we are starting to get LGBT history written for kids in so many different formats. While it's a little odd to see it so simplified, I think for younger kids this is a great starting point to learn about two important icons in American LGBT history. I love the supplements in the back for kids to learn more and for parents to talk with their kids about what they read.

It honestly takes a lot to make me cry nowadays, like actual tears (probably the meds but who knows) but this book managed it.

I was so overwhelmed and emotional after reading it.

It's a 32 page children's book detailing the lives of Sylvia Rivera & Marsha P Johnson. It includes things such as their involvement in the Stonewall riots, what that meant for the LGBTQIA Community, the fact that they're trans, that they had been homeless, that they always tried to help other homeless queer people even though they had very little and lots of other incredibly positive messages.

It was simple, considerate and beautiful.

But the bit that really made me tear up was the section at the end where the author has gone to great effort to include the following categories;

• Learn more about Sylvia & Marsha

• Definitons of trans, non-binary, Intersex, gender fluid

• What was trans life like for people back then

• The Stonewall rebellion

• Questions to discuss for teachers and parents / guardians

• Resources

• Activities

• Make a crown

• Help your community

Now, I can't fully explain why this part made me cry specifically, I think it was just the thought and effort that had gone into it. And the fact that hopefully the youth of today and tomorrow will grow up with books like this and be more accepting and knowledgeable about trans people and the LGBTQIA Community.

I also immediately watched 'The Life and Death of Marsha P Johnson' afterwards, which had been on my list for years but I obviously hadn't got around to it because ya know, privilege and ignorance, but it just solidified these two people in my head even more and then made me realise how much more tragic their lives were. With any luck the children reading this book will also research these incredible women at some point too.

I will definitely be buying a copy for any kids I know!

The story is such a wonderful one, and it's great that there's a way to share the story of Stonewall and of Sylvia and Martha with children. I'll certainly be getting it for my nephews. I particularly loved the glossary, and the suggested activities, as this gives great jumping-off points for further discussion and action.

However, the text felt choppy and unfocused, lingering too long on certain elements (such as helping homeless LGBT youths, which is very important to include, but didn't need to be repeated over and over), and then skimming over others (such as the Stonewall riots). Although I didn't love this book, I'm still glad it exists.

In today's world LGBTQ+ rights and representations are still being fought for, and remain a 'hot button topic' for a lot of people. There are hate groups that will bombard television networks or movie studios for any queer inclusion in their entertainment, and here in the UK there's an incredibly vocal movement of transphobes who are actively fighting to have trans rights removed.

In this kind of environment it's incredibly important that children are introduced to the queer community from a young age, to show them that we exist, but that we're also just regular people. Not only will this help to stigmatise the existence of the LGBTQ+ community, but will also help any child who is questioning their own gender or sexuality.

Sylvia and Marsha Start A Revolution is a book designed for younger children, and aims to introduce them to the transgender community, as well as two of the women who helped to birth the entire queer movement, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson.

The book isn't very text heavy, but it manages to get the information across really well, and is accompanied by beautiful and bold illustrations by Teshika Silver. It shows the basics of who the women are, and what it meant to be trans at that time, and how the police were against anyone who was a part of the LGBTQ+ community. However, I do get the sense that whoever is reading the book to the child would need to know a little about the events too, as I imagine there would be a few questions asked as the story unfolded.

Whilst the book gives a very sanitised version of events, and hardly even brings up the riots, it could be used as a starting block. This is a way of introducing a child to this history and these events, but you'll definitely want to explain more to them as it does paint a somewhat unrealistic version of history. But then I don't think a book aimed at such young children could really do the history of Sylvia, Marsha, and the Stonewall Riots justice as it's too deep, and frankly upsetting, thing to convey to a child. But as an introduction to the concept of trans people, of the queer community having to fight to be seen as human beings, it's really good.

The back of the book also contains a glossary of terms that are used, explaining what it means to be trans, or some of the slang that was used as code words for police. This is useful to both the children, and a parent that might not completely know everything on the subject too.

I'm sure that there will be some angry transphobes who will be foaming at the mouth at the mere existence of book for children that acknowledges that trans people exist, but those are outliers. This book is sure to be a welcome and useful addition to any home library or school, where it can educate, and tell children about a moment in history that went on to change the world.

Easy-level book. Mini biography of to of the foundational women of the LGBTQ civil rights movement: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. As well as a story about their role in the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

**I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

By now, the world knows about Stonewall, so I'm so happy to see that the two transgender women who helped kick off the riots are being featured in their own picture book.

And though I thought I knew the whole story, I did not know of the other work that they did in their lifetime. It is a bit like only knowing that Rosa Parks refused to get off the bus, when she did so much work before and after that moment in time.

Sylvia and Marsha also helped other transgender youth, because they knew what they themselves had gone through.

Highly recommended.

Very simple and easy to read, kids can get the history in very bite sized, easy to understand bits.

I enjoyed the illustrations, the message of helping the people in your community (especially those others have rejected), and the friendship between Martha and Sylvia. I appreciate how the book shows that the police were in no way friendly to trans folks, and harassed them on a regular basis. I also love the suggested activities at the end of the book to make a protest sign, or a crown of flowers like Marsha wore.

However, I'm deeply uncomfortable with the page that has Martha declaring, "I'm not a man. I'm a woman, and I always have been" and feel that this statement should have been left out. It erases the nuances of Johnson's identity and reinforces a gender binary.

Also, the author does note that this is merely one retelling of many stories about what happened at Stonewall. I wish that note had been placed at the beginning of the book. This narrative was oversimplified so much that it felt scattered, and this particular retelling is so far from what likely happened that the book ends up being more fiction than historical fiction.