Thank you NetGalley and Rebel Girls for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've read multiple Rebel Girls books before, enjoyed all of them and this one was no different! Here we follow the life of Madam C. J. Walker, who builds a hair care for black women empire. She revolutionazed the way we look at hair care, and especially the way black women take care of their hair.
This one has so much uplifting energy, that I couldn't put it down! Another great book by Rebel Girls!

I like the idea of this series! It is a great way to encourage young girls to dream big and believe that they have a power to change their reality.

Madam CJ Walker is a woman who we call can learn from. Determined, ambigious, being herself despite all the obstacle on her way. Her marvellous success is a result of hard work, never giving up, rising and standing for herself and other woman around her.

Awesome idea. Great ilustrations. Story written in a way that can be easily understand even by the youngest girls.

Another great book by Rebel Girls about the power that lies in believing in yourself and going after your dreams. Success is at everyone's fingertips - all you need is hard work, good ideas and determination.

I also love that success is not shown to be only about money and fame. Using your wealth to do something towards helping your own community, and making the world a better place for everyone, is perhaps the greatest indicator of a successful person.

What can I say? I like this publisher!

In this book we follow the incredible story of Sarah Breedlove, the first female self-made millionare in America.

The youngest of five brothers and sisters, she was the first of her family to be born out of slavery. At that time racism was still pleaguing America (well, it sadly still does), with lynching yet to be considered a crime.

Sarah's life will revolve around empowering herself and other Black women, and her legacy will still hold strong years after she passes away, in 1919.

In this book we follow her progress as an activist, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. There is little this woman hasn't done for her family and her community.

I liked more than just discovering what this world record holder did, I liked the social issues that it briefly touches, managing not to interrupt the narrative flow at the same time.

The first being what was already mentioned: lynching was still going unpunished. Towards the end of the book it's said that she partecipated in the protest of 1917 to eradicate this practice, but we'll need to wait till as far as 2022 for it to become law.

Another discrimination highlighted by the book is how straight hair were seen as beautiful and "normal" between white people, compared to afro-textured hair. This social injustice persists today still, and it rampaged after the abolition of slavery in the United States as yet another attempt to put Black people in an inferior position compared to the white folks.

Taking this information into account, I find unclear the fact that Sarah uses the therm "kinky" to describe her own hair - it was considered a slur with which white people expressed disapproval towards afro-textured hair. Being Denene Millner an accomplished African-American author, I can only assume that it's use was for the purpose of historical accuracy, or as a reappropriation of the word.

I also find it troublesome that at some point in the book, the author states: "The flakes of dandruff practically disappeared, and so did the embarassing bald spots." I guess Millner was going for a subjective point of view, talking on Sarah's behalf, but it also runs the risk of perpetuating harmful beauty standards.

It's historically accurate and sad that as much as Sarah and Leila are disgusted by a hair product claiming straight hair is the perfect style, it will be no other than Sarah the one to wide the teeth of the hot comb, a tool used to straighten afro-textured hair.

They did a great job as always illustrating the life of a successful woman, and I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy of their book in exchange for an honest review.

"We love America. It's time America loves us back."

She was poor and picked cotton with her family. Then her parents died...
Rebel Girls and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published on the 17th of January.

She's black. She married Moses and they had a child. Then he got lynched. She's young and has a small baby. She meets a lady who shows her shampoo for her hair that makes it soft and helps her grow back what she lost. She decides to open her own business and moves away.

She experiments with various shampoos until she finds one she likes. Then she begins growing her own business. She is successful and has good life...

Este livro foi uma das coisas mais preciosas que li nos últimos meses. Com sensibilidade a autora aborda a luta das mulheres negras norte americana a partir da figura de Madame C. J. Walker. Uma mulher forte, sonhadora, que enfrentou as dificuldades impostas por uma cultura racista e conseguiu aperfeiçoar seu trabalho de barreira, em seguida se tornando cabeleireira e empresária.

Ademais, o texto é simples de ler e está acompanhado de belas ilustrações que agradarão leitores de várias idades.

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This book was one of the most precious things I have read in recent months. With sensitivity, the author addresses the struggle of black American women through the figure of Madame C. J. Walker. A strong woman, dreamer, who faced the difficulties imposed by a racist culture and managed to perfect her barrier work, later becoming a hairdresser and businesswoman.

In addition, the text is simple to read and is accompanied by beautiful illustrations that will appeal to readers of all ages.

Another successful Rebel book. Can't get enough of them I didn't know CJ Walker's story, so I enjoyed discovering it a lot. She was an incredible woman! An inspiration for our younger generations.

My daughters loved learned about Madam C J Walker and her business. Chapters are perfect length for all ages and the art was stunning.

Loved this one! Amazing inspiration for girls and women of all ages and just goes to show what is and was possible.

The Rebel Girls Chapter Book Series continues to impress with "Madam C.J. Walker Builds a Business," a historical fiction chapter book about the first female self-made millionaire in America. The story follows Sarah's life from childhood, showcasing her family life, her work ethic, and her journey towards building her hair care business.

This book does a fantastic job of highlighting the achievements of influential women, particularly black women and women of color, whose accomplishments often get overlooked in history. The addition of three educational activities at the end of the book encourages entrepreneurship and further exploration of the fields in which these women thrived.

The story touches on the horrors of lynching, while also emphasizing the importance of fighting against racial inequality. Sarah's determination to achieve success on her own is a major source of inspiration for young readers. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and engaging, and the story is both informative and entertaining. Overall, "Madam C.J. Walker Builds a Business" is a great addition to the Rebel Girls series, and a must-read for young readers who want to learn about powerful women who have made a significant impact on history.

This was my second encounter with the story of Madam CJ Walker and I really love how the author handled the copyright issue with Annie Turnbo.
It was also nice to get a closer look at Madam’s relationship with her daughter Leila.
The illustrations in this book were also exquisite, which drove the story, and I imagine the target audience would appreciate that. Lastly, I gained an added admiration for the lengths that Madam went to, to facilitate the empowerment of African-American women in her time!

Madam C. J. Walker Builds A Business by Denene Millner (5⭐️)

‘Madam C. J. Walker Builds A Business’ is a Children’s Historical Fiction about America’s first female self-made millionaire. The story follows Sarah from childhood and shows her family life, her working her way up and how she built her hair care business.

I love the rebel girls series and this was another great addition. I hadn’t heard of Madam C. J. Walker before this and it was great to learn about her. This series is doing a great job of highlighting influential and powerful women and I wish I had something like this when I was younger. History tends to block out women’s achievements, especially black women and other women of colour so I really appreciate the creation of this book.

Representation - Black

TWs/CWs - Classism; Colourism; Death; Death of a loved one; Death of a parent; Divorce; Grief; Illness; Lynching; Misogyny; Murder; Poverty; Racism; Slavery

I find it truly fascinating to relearn history by learning the history of women who did great things! I had no idea who Madam C. J. Walker was before opening this book and I feel like history really needs to be rewritten with the stories of women within it,

Great book for teaching about women entrepreneurs and Women's History Month. Madam C.J. Walker was the first self-made millionaire and an inspiration to girls everywhere.

This is a must have for all little brown babies to our in their personal library. I didn't think there was anything more to learn about Madam C.J. Walker, but this book proved me wrong. It's also the first Children's book that I've encountered that is 128pp.
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Way to go Rebel Girls!

I didn't know about Madam C. J. Walker before this book as I'm not an American and I am not well versed in African American history. But what a woman! I'm going to read up more about her after this review and try to spread her story to my friends as well.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advanced reading copy.

This was such a nice and thorough intro to the life of Madam C. J. Walker. It follows her life through the good and the bad times, and how she built her business from the bottom up. It mentions the horrors of lynching without going into too much detail for young people, but also shows how it was so important to fight against this atrocity. Sarah (Walker) worked very hard to get where she was and helped many people in her community, either by employing them in her company or by donating to charitable causes in the black community. A very good read.

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

A great and concise biography about such an inspiring black woman in history who was the first woman to build her own business and become the first self-made millionaire. I loved the illustrations that made the book even more enjoyable to read.

A very inspiring story for women! Definitely a must read! Rebel girls teach us so much about our women in history that we may not no and I'm enjoying every story. A very inspirational, well written story.

"Madam C. J. Walker Builds a Business is the story of a leader in the hair care industry, but it's also an inspiring tale about the importance of empowering women to become economically independent."

Wonderful! I'm glad Rebel Girls are focusing on inspiring women, and that they are branching onto longer books! I like that this series, including Madam C.J. Walker Builds a Business, focuses more on storytelling > graphics. Perfect for all classrooms. I also love the extra pages at the end for journal entries. Great gift for little entrepreneurs out there.

Thank you NetGalley and Rebel Girls for the arc!