Tuesday Review Day: The Girl Who Dared to Defy
As much as I hate admitting it, a book’s reviews and rankings are the lifeblood for an author. If you didn’t know before, you know now. When you see an author’s mention of a review or even a less than subtle request that if you’ve read a book to please leave your thoughts on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads, it’s because reviews feed the hungry algorithms on those sites and help to build awareness about an author’s work so that people know it’s out there.
It occurred to me that it was rather self-centered of me to be so hit or miss about the books I’ve read, whether I’m familiar with an author to not, and then to request people to “leave a review” for my own. I decided to change my ways and make Tuesdays the day I review books. This review should have appeared yesterday, but I’ve been away from this blog so long (don’t ask) that I forgot how to do a few things. This week, I’m catching up.
I start with a review of The Girl Who Dared to Defy: Jane Street and the Rebel Maids of Denver, University of Oklahoma Press (February 25, 2021), by Jane Little Botkin. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know that I was also a fan of her award-winning debut book, Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood that Stained an American Family.
Disclaimer here. I met Janie Little (as I knew her then) when I moved from Taipei, Taiwan to El Paso Texas the summer before my sophomore year of high school. My father took a quick course at the language school there to learn Vietnamese before shipping out for his tour in Pleikou. Janie was part of a group of kids who made one of the scariest years of my life bearable before Dad returned safely and we moved to Norfolk, VA. As is often the case with military kids, I lost track of my friends in El Paso, until about 50 (yes, 50) years later when another one of our friends with whom I’d reconnected let me know that Janie had written a book. We reconnected on facebook and the rest is herstory or our story.
I can still provide an honest and fair review. because Jane is a fine author—better and more credentialed people than I have said so. Besides, if you’re my friend and write a book, I will give you a heads up about any criticism I might have before publishing so that you aren’t surprised, have the opportunity to respond, and, of course, cast me out of your life. And now, for the review:
Jane Little Botkin’s second book The Girl Who Dared to Defy: Jane Street and the Rebel Maids of Denver embodies the same impeccable research, character-driven narratives, and sense of time and place she provided to readers in “Frank Little and the IWW.” Botkin moves the reader through the rich and detailed landscapes where her characters lived and made things happen like an experienced, enthusiastic, and educated tour guide. This is not just a book about an important and specific part of American history related to labor and unions. It is not just about the brave and spunky Jane Street’s part in that. Botkin paints a three-dimensional portrait of Jane Street before, during, and after marriage, as a single mother of three children, and eventually as a grandmother building a life, continuing to grow, making change, and all the while facing many of the same social issues women today face. I was struck by how the struggle to balance work, life, and family was as real then as it is now. Botkin’s books are engaging stories about seemingly ordinary people who stepped up to change their worlds and ultimately ours. I loved this book and I’m looking forward to reading her next book, a memoir entitled “The Pink Dress,” too.
You can find Botkin’s books wherever books are sold.
