Girl Reviews
Our Girl Reviews showscases blogs that discuss how girls are portrayed in and impacted by books, movies, television shows, live performances, museums and exhibits, games, and products.
Feel free to comment and share your thoughts about these reviews. If you would like to submit a review, send us an email with your name, country, and a 250-750 word review discussing how that media, museum exhibit, or product portrays and impacts girls.
Looking to buy books? Consider shopping via our Bookshop Affiliate store – you’ll get books, support independent bookstores, and 10% of your purchase is donated to Girl Museum. It’s a win-win-win!
Dumplin’ Film Review: Body Positivity and Inclusivity on the Big Screen
Jessica reviews the Netflix film Dumplin’ and its impact on girls’ body positivity.
Book Review: A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF
Where to start? I guess with saying that A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF, by Brittney Cooper, Chanel Craft Tanner, and Susana Morris, is a phenomenal book that I would recommend ALL girls to read. This book is a practical guide for feminists (and wannabe...
Movie Review: Center Stage (2000)
Center Stage is a film, released in 2000, that follows the lives of a group of dancers in their first year at the American Ballet Academy in New York City. As well as the fact it features one of the most iconic finale dance numbers ever (in my opinion), there are...
Movie Review: Ladies in Black
Magda (Julia Ormond) with the young Australian teen, Lisa (Angourie Rice). The power of strong female figures is undeniable in instilling courage in young girls to break our expected roles in society. Set in the late 1950s Sydney, Ladies in Black is an Australian...
Book Review: Mightier Than The Sword
Mightier Than The Sword: Rebels, Reformers and Revolutionaries Who Changed The World Through Writing is a quick and fun read that beautifully balances education and entertainment. This children’s/middle grade book is a compilation of biographies from 40 people...
TV Review: Friday Night Lights – Season 3, Episode 1
Adrianne Palicki starred as Tyra Collette on Friday Night Lights. I initially thought that Friday Night Lights was a show just about high school football in small town America, and while the sport is central to the series, the show is about so much more. In the very...
TV Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy. On March 10th 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult fantasy drama created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, debuted. Despite being over two decades old, the series is still as influential as ever. It ran for seven...
Movie Review: Sweet Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpQxMrGPSy4 Directed by Alexandre Rockwell and set in America, Sweet Thing follows siblings Billie and Nico in a poignant yet heart-warming tale of self-discovery. With an alcoholic father and a mostly absent mother, Billie and Nico are...
Book Review: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
I Capture the Castle is a coming-of-age story by Dodie Smith, published in 1948, which focuses on the lives of the Mortmain family. The household consists of Mortmain, the father and eccentric writer of the family who has been struggling from writer’s block ever...
Film Review: Hidden Figures
I have always been a fan of films based on the lives of inspirational women in history. Hidden Figures, released in 2016, is definitely one of my favourites. The film is set in the 1960s and tells the true story of three African American women who worked at the...
Movie Review: Frozen 2
Elsa and Anna in Frozen 2. I don’t actually remember what my favorite Disney princess was. But I remember loving watching all Disney princesses movies. Growing up, I was a big fan of The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. I...
Book Review: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
As a classics graduate and general bookworm, my current favourite literary trend is reviving stories from Greek mythology in the form of modern novels. Anyone who knows me knows I generally walk around with copies of such books as Madeiline Miller's The Song of...
Book Review: One of us is Next
One of us is Next is a spinoff of the best selling YA novel One of us is Lying (shameless plug, I did a review of this back in 2019). It has a nice mix of characters from the first book as well as some new ones to get invested in. Just over a year after the death of...
TV Recaps: The O.C. – The Dearly Beloved
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQBxK1XMpCs&t=15s The O.C. is a teen drama that ran for 4 years in the early 2000s; it was essentially a fish out of water show about Ryan Atwood moving from Chino (California) to the uber wealthy Newport Beach. Watching this show...
The Black Girl Project uses music to speak truth to power
Tiffany looks back at Black female musicians’ legacy of using music to speak their truth, and the transition from Mamie Smith’s metaphorical “Crazy Blues” to a recent EP from The Black Girl Project.
TV Recap: Bob’s Burgers – The Land Ship
Image from Fox Bob’s Burgers is an animated show that follows the lives of the Belcher family. Bob runs a burger restaurant with the help of his wife Linda and children Tina, Gene and Louise. There are also a whole host of side characters that you will fall in...
Girls of Game of Thrones: Sansa Stark
This combination photo of images released by HBO shows Sophie Turner portraying Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. (HBO via AP) On the 17th April 2011, the television adaptation of Game of Thrones was aired. For those of us who had never read the books, the show...
Art vs Artist: The Hypocritical Feminism of Joss Whedon
Actress Charisma Carpenter in Angel. In February of this year, actress Charisma Carpenter released a statement on Instagram that sent shockwaves through numerous fandoms. She detailed the abuse and bullying that she suffered at the hands of Joss Whedon during her time...
Presentations of Female Strength in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
A screencap from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), series 5 episode 12 in which Adora discusses the fate of the world with her She-Ra predecessor, Mara. She-Ra has quickly become one of my favourite TV shows of all time since sobbing my way through all five...
TV Recaps: Sister, Sister
The main cast of Sister, Sister: (L-R) Tia Mowry, Jackée Harry, Tim Reid, and Tamera Mowry. There is a lot of content online: with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and YouTube (just to name a few) it has never been easier to watch your favourite show whenever you want....