Book Review: Oh No They Didn’t: Remarkable Women

Oh No They Didn’t: Remarkable Women takes a lighthearted (or you might say silly) approach to learning about female figures from history and mythology. Written by Eric Huang and illustrated by Sam Caldwell, it’s part of a series of books that also includes one about US presidents.

The idea is that it’s debunking misconceptions about women in history and myth, such as that goddesses were always about hearth and home, that women in legends were just ordinary people (not part of the epic story), that smart women were rewarded in their fields and so on.

This presentation got really annoying to me really fast. I’d rather just have the stories presented as stories rather than have the book awkwardly ask questions that no one would answer yes to. Such as “men pioneered all the breakthroughs…didn’t they?” when most kids have heard of female scientists or inventors or “most first ladies of the United States earned post-graduate degrees…didn’t they?” when women rarely received such degrees before the 20th century (the book says five first ladies have post-graduate degrees, but only lists four and I can only find four that have ).

If you can get past the weirdness of the format, there is some good information about historical figures from many occupations and throughout history. There are about 60 real-life women and nine mythological figures included, with women scientists, artists, actors, activists, politicians, writers, rulers and more included.

Lots of these people will be familiar to adult readers, such as Cleopatra, Marie Curie, Indira Gandhi, Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce and Amanda Gorman. Some may be more familiar to younger readers such as Jenny Ortega, Jazz Jennings and Millie Bobby Brown. Still others you might be learning about together, like Jennifer Doudna, who helped develop CRISPR gene editing techniques, architect Zaha Hadid, or Iceland’s prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurôardóttir.

The book is generally arranged by subject with each one on a two-page spread. Cartoony illustrations depict the women and illustrations related to them. It’s a quick way to learn about a wide range of women, and you could definitely just skip over the questions with the “oh no she didn’t” answers if they annoy you as much as they do me.

About the book: 64 pages, paperback. Published 2025 by words & pictures. Suggested retail price $12.99.

Johnny Appleseed Day is sometimes celebrated on Sept. 26 because that is John Chapman’s birthday, but even if you’re just doing an apple unit study for fall it’s a great time to talk about Johnny Appleseed.

And that’s the place to start, that Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman who was born in 1774 in what was then the province of Massachusetts Bay. He traveled west when he turned 18 and despite the image of him randomly tossing apple seeds everywhere, he was really a deliberate planter of apple tree nurseries, which he left in the care of others and checked on every year or two.

Learn a little more of his story with these cute coloring pages (though not entirely historically accurate, they’re still cute) from Homeschool of 1. They also have a Johnny Appleseed themed word search printable.

This pin of a Scholastic News page doesn’t link to a website, but it gives you some basic information and a true and false quiz you can use with kids.

Crystal & Co. has a cute apple themed counting mini book you can print and use with your Johnny Appleseed unit. They also have some coloring pages with a bit of handwriting practice. Or practice cutting with the Johnny Appleseed themed worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Make a Johnny Appleseed puppet to help tell the story with this craft with a free printable template from Simple Everyday Mom. You’ll also find some cute printable worksheets there to learn his story and put it in the correct order.

Color, cut out and assemble this Johnny Appleseed drawing from Homeschool Preschool. They also have an apple seed counting activity you can use for practicing one to one correspondence.

Tiaras and Tantrums has a free printable apple unit that includes Johnny Appleseed facts and coloring pages, as well as how to say apple in different languages, tracing apple vocabulary, art project ideas, science experiments and more.

And if you need more apple themed activities to go with your Johnny Appleseed celebrations, check out my posts on apple crafts and apple learning activities.

Have you read?

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