She Persisted: Thirteen American Women Who Changed the World isn't your typical collection of profiles of women who made history. Chelsea Clinton looks beyond the usual suspects: she spotlights not Rosa Parks but Claudette Colvin, Parks's antecedent in bus-riding civil disobedience, and she includes non-household names like labor organizer Clara Lemlich and Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith. Each biographical passage incorporates the titular refrain; as Clinton, shooting straight and with superb aim, writes at the outset, "Sometimes being a girl isn't easy. At some point, someone probably will tell you no, will tell you to be quiet and may even tell you your dreams are impossible. Don't listen to them." Alexandra Boiger's illustrations handsomely capture each subject's singularity. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author