Dr. Margaret Robbins's Recs: Books and Media with Empowered Female Protagonists

I absolutely love Roxanne Gay's writing, and this book was no exception. The writers are all so witty and brilliant; the interactions between Ayo and Aneka were so powerful. The art work really took me to the World of Wakanda, and I enjoyed getting the female perspective on Black Panther events. I was sorry to hear that the series got cancelled and am convince that it would have kept going had it been released about now. This book definitely is full of feminist power, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good love story, empowered female protagonists, and futuristic societies. In particular, I think the idea of having the king's main army comprised of female soldiers is bold and amazing. I also love how this universe has prominent scientists and leaders who are females. It truly is a society that portrays a better future.

Issues 19-23 were amazing and very timely during this political climate. They boldly touched upon issues regarding immigration, race, and not making assumptions about people. There are excerpts that I want to bring into classroom settings. I thought the momentum slowed down a little bit toward the end of the Volume, but overall, I really enjoyed this collection. I have mixed feelings about the arrival of Red Dagger, but hopefully, the writers will use his character as a way to bring in some gender social commentary. I hope to see more glimpses of Bruno's life in Wakanda, as he's always been one of my favorite characters. If you know of a spin-off series that he becomes a part of, I'd love to hear about it. :)

Click here to see my review in JoLLE! The Journal of Language and Literacy Education is geared toward English teachers and English Educators, but book lovers will appreciate the Children's and Young Adult Literature section.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you know that the Black Panther film has been taking the movie theater box offices by storm and that the A Wrinkle in Time film is getting attention, both in entertainment and children’s literature circles. In some ways, comparing the two films is like comparing apples and oranges, since A Wrinkle in Time’s main target audience is families, and Black Panther has a larger audience span, particularly among lovers of comics. Yet, since I have a deep interest in both comics and children’s literature, I could not help noticing common threads between the two, especially since I saw them within two weeks of each other and because I studied diverse children’s literature, comics, and popular culture in graduate school. Because I had recently read this book about Afrofuturism by Ytasha L. Womack, I noticed that both movies promoted a better version of the future. Black Panther encouraged dialogue and action related to race relations

Various forms of media become classics when they can stand the test of time. The Archie comics have been widely read and appreciated for decades. Everyone can relate to first love lost and wanting to find one’s place in the social hierarchy of high school. Yet the Riverdale television show series and accompanying comics present a modern-day, subversive take on a beloved tale that touch on such relevant issues as diversity, identity, and equality. The show is not only entertaining, but also progressive in its portrayal of diverse characters and current social issues. Here are just a few reasons to love a TV show that I believe will become a classic. A progressive portrayal of LGBTQ Characters: The life of Kevin Keller in Riverdale versus Jack in Dawson’s Creek, a popular show of my teen years, shows how attitudes toward sexuality have changed over time. In the late 90s, it was more nuanced for the show to have a gay central character, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer serving as one o

Ursula Le Guin's influence on speculative fiction for both children and adults is highly noteworthy. Her work is especially relevant to my SSAWW circles because of how her feminist philosophies influenced her life and work. I am honored to have written a guest post for Dr. Steven Bickmore's YA Wednesday blog about Le Guin's work, which includes a presentation I did at CEE 2017 about diverse young adult literature and gender issues. You can click here to read it, and I hope you enjoy it!