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.

Gabon is a country in central Africa on the Equator, which is bordered by Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea. Let’s learn more.

Gabon Facts

Gabon has an area of 100,000 square miles, or 270,000 square kilometers and is home to about 2.3 million people. The capital and largest city is Libreville. Almost 90 percent of the land of Gabon is forest, and the nation has huge biodiversity.

The original inhabitants of Gabon were Bambenga, and the Kingdom of Orungu was established there in the 1700s, and France colonized the area in the later 19th century. Gabon gained its independence in 1960.

The official language is French and about 95 percent of the population is part of the Bantu ethnic groups. The majority of people are Christian.

Gabon comes from the Portuguese word gabao, which means hooded cloak. Portuguese explorers in the 1470s used the term to refer to the Komo river estuary, which they said resembled a cloak. Eventually the name spread to cover the whole region.

Gabon is a presidential republic with a legislature, though there have been many disputed elections and, in 2023, a military coup.

Gabon National Symbols

The Gabon flag consists of three horizontal stripes, in green, yellow and blue. The flag was adopted in 1960.

The national anthem is “La Concorde,” and it was written and adopted in 1960 as well.

The coat of arms features a ship on a shield with the same colors as the flag, with three yellow circles in the green section. Above the crest is a large tree, and the crest is flanked by black panthers. The motto, which translated to English is “unity, work, justice,” is below the shield, among the roots of the tree. The slogan that translates to “we shall go forward together” hang around the tree.

I couldn’t find any official national animals or plants, but black panthers are considered a national symbol because of their use on the coat of arms.

Gabon Learning Activities

Did you know black panthers aren’t a distinct species? In Africa they are leopards, but in other areas black panthers are actually cheetahs, bobcats, lynx or other big cats. Learn more about the animals of Gabon at A to Z Animals.

Check out Monts de Cristal, or the Crystal Mountains, home to a large diversity of wildlife (including lots of butterflies) and a large national park. There’s lots of great pictures on that page.

Adventures in a Messy Life has a little Gabon unit study that includes links to some videos, a recipe for African beignets, and notebooking pages available for purchase that you can use for any country in Africa.

Check out this video with interesting facts about Gabon from The African Script.

Find more resources for teaching about Gabon at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn more about traditional foods in Gabon from Chef’s Pencil, and check out this recipe for what’s considered the national dish of Gabon, poulet Nyembwe, a chicken dish made with red palm oil (which is what the dish is named for).

Have you read?

Gabon Facts

Gabon National Symbols

Gabon Learning Activities

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