I absolutely adored this look into female writers through the centuries. We catch glimpses of authors and their lives that features their ideas, their private life, and how they came to write what they did. I love how there are timelines for each author as well showing when their works were published.

Working with middle school girls, I would absolutely love to see this in their hands or in the library even. It is very relatable to students and the illustrations make the work so much more engaging because students love graphic novels. I really enjoyed how the authors are separated into different “categories” as well with common threads among them.

I read the title of this book and it inmediatly caught my attention. Learning the reasons, hardships that very famous female writers went through while writing their novels is something that interested the English teacher in me. This book is sectioned in different parts and groups female authors into three, sharing some common hardships that they went through.

I found especially interesting the little comic attached to each of the authors detailing an episode that they went through when writing in general. I believe it's a great way to learn a bit more about some very famous authors but also some authors that I hadn't heard of before.

Why She Wrote provides a short overview of women writers throughout history. I was really drawn to this book to learn more about women writers and it was very informative while being concise. This book is part written biography and part graphic novel, which at points I enjoyed and other parts I found it to not flow. At times it was was hard to follow the story in the graphic novel sections as there wasn't much background to what was happening. I learned a lot from this book and found the overviews of the writers to be so interesting. The illustrations were not my favorite and sometimes the script used was difficult to read. Overall, I think this was a really cool way to discuss classic women writers and think those who love classics would really enjoy this book.

I absolutely loved this book. I learned so much about many of my favorite authors and learned about so many I hadn’t heard of.

The inclusion of half narrative and half graphic novel format was really unique but I think they successfully accomplished the combination. I really liked how they divided the chapters; it allowed the book to flow. Additionally, I think the authors did a really great job in deciding which authors to focus on and how they all connected versus choosing a huge selection of authors and creating a messy narrative.

I appreciated that they included WOC as well and I really enjoyed learning about their lives.

The only negative remark I have is that the cursive font is incredibly difficult to read especially on an e-reader. I think this could make the book inaccessible to many folks who suffer from vision disorders. I wear glasses and found it difficult to enjoy which was a bummer because I loved the graphic novel bits.

Chapman and Burke present a wonderful introduction to women authors of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in Why She Wrote. Focusing on 18 writers, the collection offers a summary of the life the woman led, a list of her works, and an accompanying comic illustrated by Bales. As podcast hosts of Bonnets at Dawn, the authors are experienced in investigating and speaking about women writers.

I loved this book for its attention to authors that were overlooked in their lifetimes and still being rediscovered and given the recognition they deserve today. As a fan of classics, I appreciated the summaries and introductions to favourite authors and new authors I have yet to read!

The illustrations of important moments in the writers' lives that could have impacted and influenced their writing was also really cool! I felt like I was getting a behind-the-scenes peek.

I loved the book's expertise in summarizing and presenting the interesting lives of these writers, and will definitely be seeking a physical copy at the bookstore to add to my shelves.

This book was so interesting, I learned a lot about different authors like Anne Brontë and more. Plus, the art style was beautiful. I gave this book 4.75 stars for sure!!

Most of this book is a graphic novel, which was unexpected. It also makes it very appealing to teenagers and young adults. There is a lot of information here and it’s well presented. A great introduction to some little known female authors.

Why She Wrote is a graphic biography of 18 well known women writers. Burke and Chapman let us explore the lives behind many of the writers we love from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Why She Wrote discusses the backstories of many authors while highlighting some very important topics and difficulties that they had to overcome.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I love books that look at different women from history and the mix between informative paragraphs for introduction to the subtopic and for each author alongside the graphic novel narrative that follows made the reading experience great. I found myself learning a lot through both storytelling forms and enjoying it. As I read, I kept wanting to pick up all of the books that were mentioned for each author so don't be surprised to see me reading some Bronte and Austen books soon lol.

I really liked the artwork in this graphic novel. I found it fit well with what was being discussed and was really well done. Having the same illustrator for all of the "chapters" allows for consistency while also seeing some slight changes depending on the topics.

The reason this is not getting 5 stars is because I did lose interest part way and did have to remind myself to keep reading. I did find some sections to be repetitive and I think this was the reason why I struggled a little bit and it was mainly in sections about the authors I didn't really know. However, I still think this was a great book, once I was able to get back on track and back to authors I know, I thoroughly loved and enjoyed it. Would recommend 100% to readers of all ages.

This is such an innovative way to tell the stories of pioneering women writers. While the biographies are fairly standard, especially of the usual suspects when talking about women's writing (Austen, the Brontes, etc.), the illustrations really delve more deeply into pivotal moments in the authors' lives and really create more emotional depth and connection. And it's an excellent introduction to lesser-known figures like Alice Dunbar Nelson and Edith Maude Eaton, among others, who deserve to have their voices recuperated and in front of new, modern audiences. I also really like how the chapters have been divided and how Burke and Chapman make parallels between the writers in each chapter. The graphic novel element makes this book an excellent intro to women writers for older kids/teenagers, but I'd also recommend it to anyone interested in Austen, the Brontes, or women writers throughout history.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this ARC. I am a long-time fan of Bonnets at Dawn, the podcast that inspired the book, but this does not affect my review.

A fantastic read!
For fans of all the classic women authors and the newest hit Bridgerton and all things regency bedazzled!
This graphic novel is a great history lesson for those who admire the women themselves or want to learn more about writers of the past. I read this as a digital ARC from Netgalley but will be obtaining a print version as soon as it is release! A definite must have!

This book is so fun & really beautifully put together. As an avid reader, I enjoyed reading about some of my favorite authors and learning about others! I would recommend this to anyone looking to get into writing because the authors spotlighted here come from all walks of life and started at different stages in their lives - making writing an endeavor you can lean into any time. I'd also recommend it for readers as it provides interesting insights into the writing processes of well-known authors and it was such a fun glimpse behind the scenes. On top of all of this, the illustrations are so fun in and of themselves. I think anyone would appreciate this book.

First of all, I want to thank Chronicle Books for the ARC.

I found the premise for Why She Wrote to be super interesting, the introduction made me super excited to read the rest of the book and I thought this book was a neat take on a biography.

It's such a unique idea, and honestly one of the most informative books I've ever come across. However, I found the transition from written biography to graphic novel mode was often disorienting.
Within the illustrated sections, I found that the script font used was difficult to read and the font used in the rest of the book quite unattractive. The images themselves I liked, they were cute but nothing out of this world.

I found the stories of the women interesting, but the writing of the stories not so much, which is sad. More often than not, I was reading just in hopes to see if the chapter on the next writer/author was any better.

With that being said, I think this book has a place on a shelf of a child with interest in literature and whose parents/teachers are enlighted enough to want their kid/student to read about the power of female authors.

To sum up, I ended up liking the concept more than the actual book itself and maybe it was just not that well executed. I think the book has potential but needs significant editing and changes before being published. I think it is also very important to mention that the book is very euro-centric and I think it's time to stop associating classics exclusively to white authors.

(review on my blog available on the 1st of January: https://icthusbookcorner.wordpress.com/2021/01/01/why-she-wrote-a-graphic-history-of-the-lives-inspiration-and-influence-behind-the-pens-of-classic-women-writers-book-review/)

The overall premise of Why She Wrote really caught my attention, but the execution just didn't work well for me. I expected a full graphic novel detailing the lives of women authors, but instead, it was a mix between written biography and graphic novel in a way that just didn't work well together. I can definitely see how people would love this, but it just wasn't what I expected and isn't my taste. Ultimately, the flow, pacing, and organization of the collection threw me off. Not to mention, the lack of BIPOC in this is... frightening. "Classic" women's literature needs to stop being confined down to European/American white women. The oppression they felt and their stories are extremely important to discuss and never forget, but there are women with different experiences that still count as classic literature. If you're going to discuss classic women's work, let's at least make it inclusive of ALL women. Most of the authors that were included in this graphic story had similar experiences and that allows for easy comparison between them, but that's looking at the world from only a Eurocentric viewpoint which just cannot be tolerated in these times. Overall, I enjoyed learning more about authors I had some knowledge about and learning of authors I wasn't familiar with at all. I also really liked the list of works at the end of each author's story. I will definitely use those to add to my more detailed list of classic works to get through. But, alas, I just felt this wasn't particularly inclusive and the organization threw the flow off for me personally.

I love the idea of this book, how it combines several different elements from different text types and genres into one book. I love that each author is a powerful female and it will help to inspire future writers.

In a combination of comics and prose, Why She Wrote glimpses into the lives of famous women writers from the 18th and 19th century. Each author is shown at a pivotal point in her life when she took control of her career. The style and format works really well, making it a really fun way to learn about literature history. However, I really wish the subjects of the comics were more diverse and carefully selected. The writers covered are largely white and almost entirely from the U.K. and U.S. I think it would have gained a lot from focusing on women writers from across the globe, even if that means they are lesser known by Western audiences.

This book was a delight! It features 18 short biographies of some of the most famous women writers in the 18th and 19th centuries (Louisa May Alcott, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, etc.). The unique twist is that each woman gets a little comic dedicated to them and the reason they became writers. As a graphic novel, it works well with a one-page written introduction of each writer followed by a few pages of illustrations and text.

My favorite part of this book was insight into female writers who I had never even heard of. What a great way to educate people about less famous writers who deserve more admiration (such as Anne Lister and Alice Dunbar Nelson.) The book also includes some diversity with women of color and LGBTQ+ folks. The text felt super readable and easy to digest, which is sometimes lacking when talking about historical writers from the past. There were tons of tidbits I didn't know - this made the book so fun to read!

My only complaint is that some of the text in the graphic novel portion was hard to read (especially the cursive-like font). I was reading an e-book so maybe this is best read as a print copy. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about these famous, inspiring women.

Delightful book/graphic novel about the lives of some of literature's greatest female writers. I learned a lot and had fun doing so. Recommended for anyone interested in classic authors.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic! This is the book that as a girl you want to own and hold in your hands because inside there are the greatest women writers that inspired you all your life with their writings and their amazing characters that made you love literature and books in general.

I can't describe how much I loved reading this book and enjoyed each page of it in addition to the comic part that I liked it so much. This book made me discover some new authors and to find out about some parts of my favorite authors' lives that I didn't know about until this book.

"Why She Wrote" is a book about some famous female authors and the reasons why they decided to take the pen and start writing either for love, money, to be heard or to be remembered. The authors were joined in groups of three writers that shared the same motivations or inspirations and so on in their careers. It was a great idea for this book and the comic part was even greater. I just loved it.

I have read biographies of some of these authors like Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters and you discover that these female writers were the heroines of their lives some ended well and some others suffered a lot and had a dramatic ending. They have lived in less free societies than ours, they had faced sexual discrimination, male chauvenism, poverty, racism and so on. But they never gave up their dreams to be a writer or to express their thoughts on what they regarded as wrong.

I loved how the book was arranged with the chapters and the illustrations, it made it so much interesting to read.
I hope that there will be more books by this authors that I thank so much for their great job. Thank you.

Okay, love this! This would be a perfect coffee table book or a gift for a friend who likes to read. A great inspiration to learn about all of these women and their lives. Would definitely purchase myself a copy.

— thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher Chronicle Books for providing me with an e-ARC of #WhySheWrote in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! I! LOVED! THIS!

whose idea was it to mix graphic novels with biographies and iconic classic female writers? because it was an idea of gold! i loved every bit of this!

honestly i went into it not expecting a lot more than just a biography but a pretty one... and this was just that expect better and more unique! i’m a fan of classic literature and especially women’s fiction. so to say i absolutely devoured this would be an understatement.

i liked how the book was divided into parts, all very unique in title and pretty in color and design. i loved the little one-page summary of each author’s background, because some authors i had no idea about but still could connect with their stories and really enjoyed reading about all of them. the panels of the comics were very well done. right from the start i could see a lot of thought and feeling when into each one and i appreciated how smoothly it was all laid out. i just adored it, all of it!

i can’t think of any faults this book has. it is purely perfection. i have it on my to-buy list for when it’s published. i’d definitely love to see more of this style of biographies!