Nellie vs. Elizabeth: Two Daredevil Journalists' Breakneck Race Around the World

On November 18, 1889, two journalists left New York separately, each determined to circle the globe. Few women worked as journalists, and fewer would have
dared to take such a difficult journey alone.... A spirited, historical picture book.

This mutual homage mutes the thrill of competition, yet there's much to love in this historic tale of female derring-do.

In this swiftly paced picture book adventure, Hannigan traces the 1889-1890 circumnavigation of the globe undertaken by two intrepid women journalists: "eager and energetic" Nellie Bly (1864-1922) and "refined and dignified" Elizabeth Bisland (1861-1929), who each sought to beat Jules Verne's fictional journey, Around the World in 80 Days, for their respective editors. As both Bly and Bisland embark from New York in opposite directions, high-energy prose tracks their progress, studded with direct quotes from both travelers and coverage of their trips: " 'I am running a race with Time, ' Nellie told a steamship agent in Hong Kong. 'Time?' he replied. 'I don't think that's her name.' Nellie's jaw dropped. This was the first she'd heard of Elizabeth Bisland." In acrylic inks and colored pencil, Gibbon provides brightly colored, intricately doodle-like accompaniment as numbered spreads portray the women's impressively conveyed journeys. Back matter includes a creators' note and a timeline of women investigative journalists. Ages 7-10. (Feb.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 2-4--Two creative, energetic women set out on an around-the-world journalists' dream assignment in this book. Readers meet Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland in the late 1800s. Bly, inspired by the popularity of the book Around the World in 80 Days, upped the idea of circling the globe in 75 days! After Bly assured her editor that a woman could do the assignment, she set sail across the Atlantic. That very evening Bisland's editor called to ask if she would challenge Bly and sail the opposite direction. At first, Bisland was less than enthusiastic but eventually, she also set out to globe-trot. The book follows these two women on their journeys around the world, and at one point even their steamships cross paths. The pages are colorful and have lovely landmarks of the locations Bly and Bisland pass through during their travels. One highlight young readers will love is Bly's souvenir from Singapore, a monkey she names McGinty. This empowering story ends with a terrific author's note that includes images from the time period, newspaper clippings, and other highlights of the lives and work of other female journalists. VERDICT This unusual story with its driven women and epic tour belongs on the biography shelves, but the adventure shelves, too.--Erin Olsen

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Hannigan's text and Gibbon's ink and colored pencil illustrations...effectively compare and contrast the personalities of the racers. A host of brief, breathless quotations from periodicals, commentators, and the subjects themselves offer insight into how the race was experienced by late nineteenth-century media consumers. An author's note alerts readers that the staged frenemy coverage masked just how much Bly and Bisland had in common, from obstacles both faced as women working in male-dominated journalism to their deaths by pneumonia and their interments in the same cemetery. Also included are brief biographies of ten female investigative journalists from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, a chatty note by Gibbons on her research, and a bibliography. —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books