Information you should know:

She Persisted Maya Lin is a Biography written for young girls in Elementary School. It is part of a larger series called She Persisted covering various successful women throughout history.

Why did I read this?

I choose this book because it was both a part of a wider series that was popular at my library and it was a biography. I didn’t know anything about Maya Lin going before choosing this book. I don’t often like biographies, even when I was younger, but hoped that this one would be interesting.

Review:

This book is framed as a motivational piece of literature about someone who succeeded. Therefore I will be judging it on three metrics. First does this tell an interesting story about someone. Second does this book do a good job of providing motivation and a framework of what is possible for its target audience. Third does this book present an accurate realistic expectation of a famous person.

Who is Maya Lin?

Through reading this book I discovered a lot about the artist / architect named Maya Lin. She is most famous for creating the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. She also created several other famous works throughout the country. The book makes following her career from young childhood up until her kids were born very interesting. It draws in different small elements of her life to paint a bigger picture of who she was. The language is simple and straightforward but doesn’t talk down to the reader. Overall I found the story of Maya Lin to be compelling.

Maya Lin as a rolemodel

I think this book does a fantastic job of portraying Maya Lin as a role model both in the arts and in general. The book spends a good amount of time showing the reader that Maya Lin isn’t any one thing. Instead she is a collection of events and memories that lead her to where she was. It doesn’t put her on a pedestal in a way that makes her unrelatable to the audience. Instead the book focuses on the small things she did and the opportunities she took that coupled with hard work turned into her career. I really loved this angle and believe it serves the purpose of showing that Women can be successful in many different ways.

Additionally the final chapter of the book focuses on small things a child can do today or the weekend the read the book that will help them realize their dream. This is a collection of great advice. Including things like; what are you most interested in at school? Can you embrace it with independent study? And, What can you make with the things around you?

Good Representation?

As previously discussed the book Maya Lin takes a great approach to talking about Maya Lin without making her unapproachable to the audience. It builds up to her big accomplishments by showing the small things that contributed to them. The book also spends a good amount of time in her childhood where we see the things she did to succeed. I think this is an excellent angle for showing Maya Lin to the target audience.

Doing further research on Maya Lin and this books reception it is clear that the book did a great job of representing her. The facts are accurate and the portrayal includes both quotes from her and some of her thought process.

Final Review:

She Persisted Maya Lin is a great book for aspiring artists and young girls in general. I also think it’s inspiring for young boys and shows a great perspective of what the world can be like for young girls. I rate this book an overall 9/10.

Reference: Lin, G. (2022). She persisted: Maya Lin. Philomel Books.