She’s a Mensch! Jewish Women Who Rocked the World
REVIEWS
HADASSAH MAGAZINE, March 2025:
By Sandee Brawarsky: She’s a Mensch! is illustrated with vibrant artwork by Arielle Trenk. The book opens with the line, “They rock! Jewish women ’round the world have talent, strength and smarts. They shine like stars in every field from science to the arts.” Geared toward the youngest audiences, aged 5 to 10, this title features 20 women who lived at some point over the past 140 years. “You want to get girls thinking at an early age about how they can do anything,” Burk, one of the co-authors, said in an interview. “For the women we profiled, even their childhoods are fascinating. They didn’t just become who they were in adulthood.” Indeed, many of these women came from humble beginnings and, often with the support of others, crafted lives of wide renown. Among the noteworthy portraits are those of actor Marlee Matlin, who in 1987 became the first deaf person to win an Oscar, and astronaut and scientist Jessica Meir, part of the first all-woman spacewalk in 2019. I was also thrilled to see Marthe Cohn, a French nurse who became a spy in World War II. With her fluent German and blond hair, she passed as a non-Jewish German nurse and was able to uncover Axis military secrets. Cohn, who deserves to be more widely known, was awarded France’s highest military honor for her wartime efforts. The question posed with her bio is: “How can you be brave?” I had the honor of interviewing Cohn in 2019 when an excellent documentary about her life, La Chichinette: The Accidental Spy, was released. For about 60 years, until the film was made, she remained silent about her experiences. Now 104, she lives in California.
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In this collection of short biographical sketches, authors Rachelle Burk and Alana Barouch (a mother and daughter team) tell readers about twenty Jewish women of extraordinary achievement. Yes, the book includes Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a few other well-known luminaries, but She’s a Mensch also offers readers a glimpse into the lives of women whose stories are not often told. Some of the stars of the book are people readers have probably never even heard of, such as Australian mountaineers Cheryl and Nikki Bart, a mother-daughter team who climbed the highest peaks of all seven continents. Activist April N. Baskin and scientist Nalini Nadkarni are examples of Jews of color discussed. Each of the nineteen, two-page spreads includes a four-line poem, a paragraph of biographical text, a quote, and a question for the reader to contemplate how they can be like that spread’s notable woman. On some pages, the authors include an extra fact about the woman’s life or career, called a “Fun Fact to Mensch’n.”
"This colorful and exuberant picture book is . . . a bold celebration of Jewish women's role in history."―A Mighty Girl
From the authors:
So many more women could have been included if not for page limitations. Here are some of the bios that had to be cut due to space.
Clara Lemlich
The bosses didn’t care.
Then Clara led the workers’ fight
to make conditions fair.
caught the world’s attention,
while off the screen she was a star
in super-tech invention!
Q: What cool things would you like to invent?
Rosalind Franklin
used x-rays to display
the building blocks of every life—
amazing DNA.
Judith Resnik
and zoomed to outer space,
exploring from a rocket ship
a vast and wondrous place.
Ann Landers and Dear Abby
guidance and advice.
They taught a generation
to be sensible and nice.
Carole King
When Carole writes her music andshe sings her famous songs,
people turn the volume high
Carole King is one of the most successful singer-songwriters of all time. She has won several music awards and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many famous musicians have performed songs that she wrote. There is even a Broadway play about her life.
Q: How do you feel when you listen to your favorite music?
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