Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Tough Mothers
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.jasonporath.com/
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
https://www.rejectedprincesses.com
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2008084467
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2008084467
HEADING: Porath, Jason
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PERSONAL
Born in Louisville, KY.
EDUCATION:USC Film School, degree in film theory, 2004.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author, blogger. Former DreamWorks Animation programmer and illustrator.
WRITINGS
Author of blog, Rejected Princesses.
SIDELIGHTS
Kentucky native Jason Porath studied film theory and criticism at the USC Film School, graduating in 2004. “Graduated on a Friday, started working on a Monday,” Porath told Eli Keel in the online Insider Louisville. He worked at DreamWorks Animation on such film hits as How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Croods, and Kung Fu Panda 2. “At DreamWorks, I didn’t draw at all; the work I was doing was much closer to programming,” Porath further related to Keel. But this work did give Porath a lot of time to think about princesses and their depiction in animated films. He contributed regularly to in-house critiques of in-progress productions, arguing for “stronger, more active, more vibrant female leads,” according to Keel.
This interest soon turned into a full-blown blog, Rejected Princesses, a collection of stories and ilustrations of strong women throughout history who have not gotten their full due. Quickly the site went viral. In a NPR.org profile, Arun Rath noted of this blog: “Many of us have come to know the tales of Disney’s princesses by heart. But put Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel aside for a moment and consider these characters: A transgender Native American, a tank commander and a Mexican revolutionary. Theirs are not the kind of stories you find in a Disney princess flick, but they’re in the spotlight on the blog Rejected Princesses.” Porath commented to Rath: “I take women, sort of unsung heroines–usually from history, but a lot from mythology and some from literature–who wouldn’t necessarily make the cut for mainstream animated princess movies, and give them that style. … I didn’t want it to just be everybody is shiny, happy, kick-butt heroines … . There are people who are heroes, there are people who are villains and there are people who are just weird.” The accompanying cartoon-like illustrations, often in the Disney style, have drawn attention from readers, as well, despite the fact that Porath never formally studied studio art or illustration. He simply has always drawn for fun.
Rejected Princesses
The popularity of the blog soon led to a book contract for Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics, a gathering of almost 100 profiels of such women, from the well known such as Florence Nightingale or Harriet Tubman, to the little-known, such as Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya, the first female tanker to win the Hero of the Soviet Union award. As Porath tells his narratives with warts and all, he divides them into three sections: the green category is at the front of the book, stories that are more uplifting with happy endings. Then, as the tales become darker or better fit an adult audience, they are located in the yellow and red categories, from the middle of the book to the end.
Reviewing Rejected Princesses in Booklist, Emily Compton-Dzak noted: “Like [Porath’s] blog, the purpose of the book is to shine a light on remarkable women of the past, regardless of whether they were remarkable for noble or horrifying reasons.” Compton-Dzak added: “Each entry includes a thoughtful illustration … . Porath’s writing is highly entertaining but casual.” Similarly, Helen R. Brown, writing in the Spectator, commented: “Many of these tales are no more shocking than Little Red Riding Hood–the difference is just that its heroines don’t wait around for passing woodcutters to rescue them.” Brown further observerd: “I’m grateful to this ‘random white guy from Kentucky’ for providing me with a treasury of stories which will
help me show … that ‘Girls can be anything … Glory in that!'” A Stay on the Page website writer was also impressed with Rejected Princesses,concluding: “I highly recommend this book. Read it if you’re a girl. Read it if you’re a guy. Read it if you’re 20 or 80 or anywhere in between. This book will teach you about the forgotten women in history and maybe even a little bit about yourself. And if you want more, don’t forget to check out rejectedprincesses.com.”
Tough Mothers
More strong women are profiled in Porath’s 2018 publication, Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs, another gathering of women both famous and infamous, fearsome and wholesome. Sojourner Truth rubs shourlders with the savior of Holocaust children, Irena Sandler, and with a mother of rock n’ roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The women in this collection, as in the previous one, are diverse not only in nationality and race, but also in sexuality, and are all mothers in one respect or another.
Booklist reviewer Biz Hyzy had praise for the illustrations in Tough Mothers, noting: “Porath draws these moms in all their variety, creating cartoony illustrations that are cinematic, upbeat, and inspiring.” Hyzy added: “Teens will get a kick out of these fairy tale-like stories about real women performing incredible feats.” An online Graphic Policy contributor also had a high assessment, commenting: ” The art by Paroth is gorgeous, as each panel captures these women in action, in the most gorgeous colors and vivid light. Altogether, a great book that will have the reader looking up these heroes, as all these women should be celebrated.” Likewise, lgbtsr.org writer Terri Schlichenmeyer observed: “Get this book for yourself and loan it to Mom–although you may never get it back. Between the incredible illustrations, the laughs inside, and Mom Tales you’ll eat up, Tough Mothers is a book you’ll both sink your nails into.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, August 1, 2016, Emily Compton-Dzak, review of Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics, p. 22; April 1, 2018, Biz Hyzy, review of Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs, p. 37.
Spectator, January 21, 2017, Helen R. Brown, “Wild, Wild Women,” review of Rejected Princesses, p. 32.
ONLINE
Graphic Policy, https://graphicpolicy.com/ (May 13, 201), review of Tough Mothers.
Insider Louisville, https://insiderlouisville.com/ (November 16, 2016), Eli Keel, author interview.
lgbtsr.org, https://www.lgbtsr.org/ (May 13, 2018), Terri Schlichenmeyer, review of Tough Mothers.
NPR.org, https://www.npr.org/ (September 6, 2014), Arun Rath, “No Tiara, No Problem: ‘Rejected Princesses’ Have Stories Worth Telling.”
Rejected Princesses website, https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/ (October 20, 2018).
Stay on the Page, https://stayonthepage.wordpress.com/ (October 25, 2016), review of Rejected Princesses.
FAQ
What is this?
A series of illustrations of women whose stories wouldn’t make the cut for animated kids’ movies, illustrated in a contemporary animation style. In 2016, it became a book – and in 2018, there will be a second!
Additionally, the site regularly adds profiles of “Modern Worthies” – women from living memory who would also not make the cut.
Lastly, there’s a regularly-updated blog featuring items related to non-conforming women, art, and peculiar bits of history.
Did they actually get rejected? Did you pitch these ideas?
Nope, but I think we can assume that nobody’s going to want to do kids’ movies about a lot of these people. They’re either way too awesome, way too awful, or way too weird. For a much longer explanation of why “Rejected,” here is a more in-depth explanation.
But someone did do a film about [Sita|Boudica|Wu Zetian|whomever]!
I’m talking big, corporate-backed, glossy studio movies. We all know the kind. :)
She knows the kind.
She knows the kind.
Have you heard of [XXXXX]?
Maybe! I have a binder list of more than 200 400 750 1000 1500 2000 women to illustrate, but I am always looking for more. In general, people I look for:
They had agency, conflict, and personality – not that they’re necessarily “good.”
Fight against significant, ideally illustratable, struggles (big institutions are more tricky to represent).
Are outside societal norms.
Have not been alive in the past 50 years. (this has some wiggle room – basically, I want the dust to have settled a bit. I post under the heading of Modern Worthies, but full-fledged entries are rare.)
Of course, I also enjoy truly out of the ordinary stories, so none of this is set in stone.
Ideally, are fairly unknown.
If you want to get in contact, please do so here! Helps me to keep things straight. :)
I sent you in a suggestion a long time ago and you haven’t done them yet. What’s the deal?
Could be a couple things:
They could be too similar to someone else I did recently. I try to vary it up.
They might be too well-known (e.g. Marie Antoinette).
They might be too tragic. I try to do entries on people that can inspire in some way, and were not just mistreated their whole lives.
I might be saving them for a book entry.
Wait, there’s a book?
Yep! Has a hundred entries, could probably be used as a murder weapon. More details here.
faq_header
Seen above: Jason getting something wrong.
Is the book available in [Spanish/French/Portuguese/Elvish/etc]?
No, just English, for now. My agent and I have been trying to get it out there for years — the translation isn’t the holdup. The hard part is that it’s an expensive book to produce and foreign markets need a lot of evidence there’s a market for it, sadly. I’m trying.
You got [XXXX] totally wrong and now I think you are awful.
Oh no! Well, I hope you will tell me and help me correct my mistake instead of quietly resenting me for it. I am not a historian, but I put in a lot of effort on getting historical details correct. If I screwed up, please, send in a correction using this here form and let me know. If you send in a really good correction, I’ll give you a Nog Prize!
What’s a Nog Prize?
It’s an award I give to people with good corrections. It says that they’re officially smarter than me forever. See more here.
Who are you?
My name’s Jason Porath. I used to work at DreamWorks Animation (as an effects animator), but not anymore. Now I do this blog, and write, and am a general man about town. If you’re interested in more info, I have a little page about myself right here – so go ahead and check my privilege! :D
So you write this?
I do.
Who does the art?
Me.
…and the research?
Me again.
So you were a history major, right? Or an art major?
Degree in film theory. Taken like two art classes in my entire life, no history classes since high school, didn’t draw at all for DreamWorks. I have little to no training in any of this. I just wanted it to exist.
Damn, dude.
Right?
How’d you get this idea?
That’s a question with a long answer. I answer that, and a bunch of other stuff, in this here interview. This one is pretty good too!
Why are you doing this?
Because I think it’s awesome. I hope you do too!
Do you have to cuss so much? It’s the sign of a weak mind, you know.
This project is entirely about not bowdlerizing powerful and difficult stories. I absolutely refuse to tone these stories down, or to write in a voice that is not my own.
But I could use your work for teaching, if you just didn’t cuss.
I understand that, but I strongly feel the original, base version of these entries should remain uncensored. That said, in the future I would like to make a version that is more all-ages friendly for just such a purpose – however, I’m not able to give it much attention at present. If you have such an inclination, however, feel free to clean up any of my work, send it to me, and I’ll post it online for all to use.
Don’t you know women aren’t fit to be in combat?
First off, die in a fire. Second off: if anyone ever starts spouting off this line of ignorant bullshit, direct them to this massive list of women in combat roles from 1500 BCE to World War II.
Who are you represented by?
My literary agent is Alexandra Machinist at ICM Partners.
My film/video/other media agent is Doug Johnson at ICM Partners.
About the Author
I look like this, except my hair is green right now.
I look like this, except my hair is green right now.
The Short Version:
My name is Jason Porath. In a past life, I used to work on animated movies such as How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Croods, and Kung Fu Panda 2. Upon leaving the animation industry, I started Rejected Princesses: a blog celebrating women of history and myth who were too awesome, awful, or offbeat for the animated princess treatment. It went viral, there’s a book, and the rest is history.
I live in Los Angeles, enjoy exploring abandoned buildings, and sing a lot of karaoke.
My literary agent is Alexandra Machinist at ICM Partners, and my film/video agent is Doug Johnson, also at ICM Partners.
The Long Version:
While working at DreamWorks Animation, I had quite a few opinions about the state of animated movies. I’d often joke around with co-workers about movies, and one conversation we had was about “what is the least likely woman to ever get the animated princess treatment?” Some of them were such good ideas I just had to see them illustrated, so I did some illustrations (despite having little to no artistic background). As soon as I put them online, they went viral, and it became my full-time job.
I’m kind of an unlikely candidate to make an illustration blog about feminist, historical, multicultural butt-kicking ladies:
I’m a straight white dude from Kentucky.
I’m not a historian, or a trained artist. My degree is in film theory. I took like one art class in all of college.
The animation I did was basically physics programming. No drawing involved. You can see what I’m talking about here.
But I’m doing it anyway. Really, I just think this stuff is neat. I try hard to get things right and to make it worth your while to come here. I’m learning as I go. Mostly, I just try to not screw up as much this week as last week.
Other interesting stuff about me:
I gave a TEDx talk on the normalization of the fantastic.
I’m an expert in the usage of visual effects to erase genitalia.
I helped out with a pretty awesome music video from OK Go that you might have seen.
I was one of the guys who made this huge musical tesla coil.
I used to live in Japan and speak pretty decent Japanese (or at least I used to be able to).
I have seven brothers. No sisters. My mother is a saint.
When I’m not doing this (which at this point is pretty much never – I work like 80 hours a week on it), I spend my time making dangerous art projects like musical tesla coils. I have short thumbs, soft hair, and a weird sense of humor. And I love you.
QUOTE:
Many of us have come to know the tales of Disney's princesses by heart. But put Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel aside for a moment and consider these characters: A transgender Native American, a tank commander and a Mexican revolutionary.
Theirs are not the kind of stories you find in a Disney princess flick, but they're in the spotlight on the blog Rejected Princesses.
I take women, sort of unsung heroines — usually from history, but a lot from mythology and some from literature — who wouldn't necessarily make the cut for mainstream animated princess movies, and give them that style.
I didn't want it to just be everybody is shiny, happy, kick-butt heroines," he says. "There are people who are heroes, there are people who are villains and there are people who are just weird.
No Tiara, No Problem: 'Rejected Princesses' Have Stories Worth Telling
4:33
DOWNLOAD
TRANSCRIPT
September 6, 20144:56 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
NPR STAFF
Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya is one of the women featured on Jason Porath's blog Rejected Princesses. Oktyabrskaya was the first female tanker to ever win the Hero of the Soviet Union award.
Jason Porath
Many of us have come to know the tales of Disney's princesses by heart. But put Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel aside for a moment and consider these characters: A transgender Native American, a tank commander and a Mexican revolutionary.
Theirs are not the kind of stories you find in a Disney princess flick, but they're in the spotlight on the blog Rejected Princesses. Each week, former DreamWorks animator Jason Porath adds a new illustration and write-up about a woman who is, as the blog says, "too awesome, awful or offbeat for kids' movies."
"I take women, sort of unsung heroines — usually from history, but a lot from mythology and some from literature — who wouldn't necessarily make the cut for mainstream animated princess movies, and give them that style," Porath tells NPR's Arun Rath. "It's sort of an alternate-reality glimpse into, 'What if they got their moment in the sun?' "
One of his favorite examples is the aforementioned Soviet tank commander, Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya. Porath says Oktyabrskaya's husband was killed by the Nazis, so she sold all of her belongings in order to buy a tank and fight. She named the tank "Fighting Girlfriend." The illustration shows her sitting atop her tank, anthropomorphized in Cars-like fashion, amid a battle.
"It's this weird, incongruous mash-up of history as well as these mainstream animated movies," he says.
Porath drew Elisabeth Bathory washing her hair before a dresser strewn with references to her reputation as a torturer. He also wrote a spirited defense of Bathory's innocence.
Courtesy of Jason Porath
But Porath's also includes some non-heroic Rejected Princesses, like Elisabeth Bathory, who he says is possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history. He says he didn't want to only include one type of female character.
"I didn't want it to just be everybody is shiny, happy, kick-butt heroines," he says. "There are people who are heroes, there are people who are villains and there are people who are just weird."
The project started as a bit of a lark, Porath says, and was born out of a lunch conversation he had while working at DreamWorks about unlikely stories to be given the animated princess treatment. The blog and the premise quickly took off, he says.
But Porath says Rejected Princesses isn't meant to bash Disney and the work they do on their mainstream animated princess stories.
"That said, I feel like there is room for people that don't get the spotlight put on them," Porath says. "Maybe they won't make $100 million ... but there should be a place for that."
Porath says there is no shortage of women to feature on the blog, and he still has a list of about 600 ready to go.
QUOTE:
Graduated on a Friday, started working on a Monday,
At Dreamworks, I didn’t draw at all; the work I was doing was much closer to programing.
stronger, more active, more vibrant female leads.
Rejected Princesses’ author Jason Porath visits Carmichael’s Bookstore
By ELI KEEL | November 16, 2016 10:26 am
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COOLGEEKELI79@GMAIL.COM
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Jason Porath | Photo by Darren Eskanadari
Jason Porath | Photo by Darren Eskanadari
If you spend time nerding out on the internet, and you’re into history, or princesses, or badass women, chances are you’ve already seen posts from Rejected Princesses, a website that combines all of the above. Maybe you even heard about the blog on NPR or in Entertainment Weekly.
What you might not know is the site’s creator, Jason Porath, is a Louisville native, and he’s just released a book based on his popular site. He’ll be at Carmichael’s Bookstore on Friday, Nov. 18, to promote the book, which covers “princesses” from all over the world.
Of course, they aren’t always literally princesses — that’s just a term that’s become synonymous in recent years with the female leads in a long line of animated kids’ films, stretching back to the first full-length animated movie, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” produced by the Walt Disney Company in 1937.
porath2-x650x“Rejected Princesses” presents women from history, illustrated in a style similar to those made popular by Disney and its competitors, but unlike the popular kids’ films of the last 70 years, “Rejected Princesses” presents real women from history, and it also shows them in all their flawed and sometimes violent glory.
The result can sometimes be a bit intense, a fact Porath recognizes.
“The book does have a number of maturity ratings and content warnings, just to give people an idea of what they are in for,” says Porath in an interview with Insider.
The author has always drawn for fun, but he’s never had any formal training. When he attended Dupont Manual High School, it wasn’t for their visual arts magnet.
“I hung out with all the visual arts kids at Manual, although I was communications media arts magnet,” he says. “I kinda wish I’d done the visual arts thing. I doodled throughout middle and high school and kept drawing … (but) I wasn’t a trained artist by any stretch.”
After high school, Porath went to University of Southern California Film School and graduated with a degree in film studies and criticism. Immediately after school, he got a job in L.A., so he stayed.
“I graduated from film school in ‘04 and started working. Graduated on a Friday, started working on a Monday,” he recalls.
Porath found himself at Dreamworks Animation, a studio responsible for a slew of animated hits, but he still wasn’t doing art. “At Dreamworks, I didn’t draw at all; the work I was doing was much closer to programing.”
But his job at Dreamworks put him in a position to spend lots of time thinking about the princesses in animated films.
“(They) have this culture of while you’re working on the movie, about every month or two you get an in-progress screening,” says Porath. This starts when the movie is still just story boards, a bunch of drawings with script ideas. Everyone in the company is welcome to email the creative team with feedback. “Most people would send in a paragraph or two. You’re talking about visual artists and engineers, people who are not used to writing a whole bunch in terms of critique. But I wrote excessively.” Most of his suggestions centered around the need for stronger, more active, more vibrant female leads.
Hatshepsut is one of Porath's "Rejected Princesses." | Courtesy of Jason Porath
Hatshepsut is one of Porath’s “Rejected Princesses.” | Courtesy of Jason Porath
While Porath watched some films improve — he thinks the character of Fiona in “Shrek 4″ became much stronger after initial drafts — other films left him frustrated, though he’s quick to point out that the creative teams and financiers are responsible for keeping hundreds of people employed, and he understands why they make some of those choices.
In the spirit of being the change he wanted to see, Porath developed the Rejected Princesses website. It caught on, quickly netting him media attention — and now a book deal.
He put deep thought into how he would present his princesses. “It’s been an ongoing process of finding the voice for the project,” he says. “Early on, there was a big question of, ‘Do I show blood?’”
Porath says it’s vital for kids to see the strong female role models, but his outspoken feminism sometimes covers another important distinction to this blog: He tells the truth about history, warts and all.
“If I were going to do a story on Ada Lovelace, I’d want to cover … yes she’s a phenomenal intellect who was a century ahead of her time and one of the most brilliant people the human race has ever produced, but she was also an opiate addict,” says Porath. He quickly rattled off several other shortcomings. “(She) might have cheated on her husband and was addicted to gambling. She had a lot of flaws.”
But so do most real people, he says. “I think it does a disservice to absolutely everybody to have this simplistic white-washed view of people.”
So “Rejected Princesses” tells complex yet pared-down versions of the stories of these women.
Porath hopes some of these princesses take the next step some day. “I would love to do little animated shorts for the web… where each episode would just be the princess musical number from a movie, (but) we only make that scene,” he explains.
Janequeo is the latest "Rejected Princess." | Courtesy of Jason Porath
Janequeo is the latest “Rejected Princess.” | Courtesy of Jason Porath
But maybe some day a full-length film? Is he working on screenplay? “It’s L.A., everybody has a screenplay,” laughs Porath.
In the meantime, keep up with Porath online, where he posts updates, corrections, outtakes and, of course, new princesses. He claims to have a list of more than 1,500 historical women he’s hoping to get to eventually.
But first, buy a copy of the book and meet the author on Friday, Nov. 18, at Carmichael’s Bookstore, 2720 Frankfort Ave. The signing starts at 7 p.m.
QUOTE:
Like his blog, the purpose of the book is to shine a light on remarkable
women of the past, regardless of whether they were remarkable for noble or horrifying reasons
Each
entry includes a thoughtful illustration
Porath's writing is
highly entertaining but casual.
Print Marked Items
Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's
Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics
Emily Compton-Dzak
Booklist.
112.22 (Aug. 1, 2016): p22.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics. By Jason Porath. Oct.
2016. 240p. illus. HarperCollins/Dey Street, $25.99 (9780062405371). 305.42.
Once upon a time, Porath, an animator for a little company called DreamWorks Animation, joked around
with his work buddies about women who would never get their own princess movies--and with that, the
Rejected Princesses blog was born. Like his blog, the purpose of the book is to shine a light on remarkable
women of the past, regardless of whether they were remarkable for noble or horrifying reasons. More than
100 entries range from fairy tales such as the Norwegian Tatterhood, who rode a goat and fought off trolls
with a wooden spoon, to historical figures like "Stagecoach" Mary Fields, an emancipated slave who
became one of the first female U.S. postal carriers and famously fought off wolves to deliver the mail. Each
entry includes a thoughtful illustration, often further explained via an "Art Notes" section. Porath's writing is
highly entertaining but casual. (He writes, for example, that revolutionaries started the Mexican Revolution
by telling President Diaz to stop being a jerk.) He lumps entries into three categories: green, yellow, or red.
Moral, happy-ending-type stories are in the green category, at the beginning of the book. Stories with darker
themes more appropriate to adults are in the red section, at the end. Otherwise, the entries are in no
particular order, and there is no index, so this "reference-y" book is most suitable for browsing--but very
appropriate for both reference and circulating collections at high-school and public libraries. --Emily
Compton-Dzak
YA: Teens will have great fun reading about these fearless, fabulous females. RV.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Compton-Dzak, Emily. "Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics."
Booklist, 1 Aug. 2016, p. 22. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A460761613/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4516bb23. Accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
QUOTE:
Many of these tales are no more
shocking than Little Red Riding Hood--the difference is just that its heroines don't wait around for passing
woodcutters to rescue them.
I'm grateful to this 'random white guy from Kentucky' for providing me with a treasury of stories which will
help me show her that 'Girls can be anything ... Glory in that!'
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460761613
Wild, wild women
Helen R. Brown
Spectator.
333.9830 (Jan. 21, 2017): p32.
COPYRIGHT 2017 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)
http://www.spectator.co.uk
Full Text:
Rejected Princesses: History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions and Heretics
by Jason Porath
Dey Street Books, 18.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 384
Who is the least likely candidate for an animated princess movie? That's the question former DreamWorks
animator Jason Porath asked his colleagues over lunch a few years back. Over the hour they kept oneupping
each other with increasingly inappropriate heroines. Nabokov's Lolita came out on top.
Throughout the conversation, Porath kept throwing out the names of obscure warrior women he'd read about
on Wikipedia binges. He suggested the female samurai Tomoe Gozeno, Josefina Guerrero, the 'Leper Spy of
the Philippines', and Mariya Oktyabrskaya, the Soviet widow who sank her life savings into a tank she
drove into frontline battle against the Nazis. But none of his colleagues had heard of them and he felt that
needed to change.
Back in history class Porath remembered learning about complex 'male figures running the gamut from Abe
Lincoln to Genghis Khan'. But he felt the school-approved list of great women was too 'safe, censored and
short'. He remembered Queen Elizabeth I, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie and Rosa Parks. Suddenly this
'random white guy from Kentucky' was filled with a feminist evangelism on behalf of 'the compromised
ones, the uncomfortable ones, the rejected ones'.
So Porath left DreamWorks and launched the glorious Rejected Princesses blog, celebrating the wild lives of
'history's boldest heroines, hellions and heretics'. Each woman was given a witty illustrative makeover,
modern animation style. Mariya Oktyabrskaya's tank (which she told Stalin to christen 'Fighting Girlfriend'
and clambered out of to repair in mid-battle) has a face just like one of the characters in Pixar's Cars.
Now the blog's a book, aimed at 'any girl who ever felt she didn't fit in' and featuring the extraordinary
adventures of 100 women --both real and mythological--from all corners of the globe.
There's a lot of tough stuff and Porath refuses to sugar-coat it. Each tale is rated from one to five: one being
a PG and five being R. There are also icons to warn readers when stories contain sex, violence, abuse, rape
and self-harm.
He opens in Mongolia in the 13th century with the PG tale of Genghis Khan's great-great-granddaughter
Khutulun (a heroic warrior and unbeaten wrestler) and ends in 21st-century India with that R-rated story of
Phoolan Devi, who was born an 'untouchable', married at 11 to a 33-year-old man who beat and raped her,
told to commit suicide by her family when she walked hundreds of miles home to them, gang-raped by the
police when she reported her husband, and then kidnapped by her cousin. She survived it all to become a
bandit queen, terrorising the 'unjust', castrating rapists, stealing from the rich to give to the poor and freeing
women from slavery. After 11 years in prison she successfully ran for government office, serving for five
years before she was gunned down in 2001.
Porath is a very cool and questioning narrator, constantly challenging the ways in which the stories have
been retold and balking at how many end with marriage. He snorts at how Khutulun's story was transfigured
to be all about romantic love--'ugh'
--in Puccini's Turandot, and how the 2014 Netflix series Marco Polo cast her as 'slender and waifish when
she was anything but'. He tells us that Phoolan Devi hated the 1994 biopic Bandit Queen which portrayed
her as 'a snivelling woman'.
Not all Porath's subjects are warriors. He also celebrates intellectuals, inventors and even gives space to
female psychopaths like Elisabeth Bathory. He advises approaching that chapter like a drinking game and
down a shot each time you're 'grossed out ... here's hoping you have a full bottle or a strong stomach'.
So although this is marketed as a book for children, parents are going to need to make their own call on
when to share what. I won't be encouraging my own children to down shots with their bedtime stories, but
I'm with Porath when he says that 'kids can handle more than we think'. Many of these tales are no more
shocking than Little Red Riding Hood--the difference is just that its heroines don't wait around for passing
woodcutters to rescue them. As Porath says, 'what we think of as "suitable for kids" defines what sort of
society we want'. And as the mother of a four-year-old girl who has started insisting she's a boy because she
can't see herself in the increasingly passive, pink and princessified ideals of girlhood our culture sells her,
I'm grateful to this 'random white guy from Kentucky' for providing me with a treasury of stories which will
help me show her that 'Girls can be anything ... Glory in that!'
Caption: Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi in the 1994 film Bandit Queen
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Brown, Helen R. "Wild, wild women." Spectator, 21 Jan. 2017, p. 32. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498485382/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4543f687.
Accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
QUOTE:
Porath draws these moms in all their variety, creating cartoony illustrations that are
cinematic, upbeat, and inspiring.--Biz Hyzy
YA: Teens will get a kick out of these fairy tale-like stories about real women performing incredible feats.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498485382
Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of
History's Mightiest Matriarchs
Biz Hyzy
Booklist.
114.15 (Apr. 1, 2018): p37.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History's Mightiest Matriarchs. By Jason Porath. Apr. 2018.256p. illus.
Harper/Dey Street, $24.99 (9780062796097). 306.87.
In the follow-up to Rejected Princesses (2016), Porath compiles brief biographies about savvy, go-getter
mothers whom history forgot despite their tangible impacts on today's world. These women--diverse in race,
sexuality, and background--used their intelligence and passion to defy what society deemed impossible for
women at the time. Mother Lu spent years clothing and feeding young, poor men in China. She then armed
them and led a rebellion, avenging her son. A black woman in Jim Crow Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer
passed absurd literacy tests and endured torture to register to vote. Despite Sacajawea's rough childhood and
abusive husband, she cheerfully led Lewis and Clark's expedition with a baby strapped to her back. Porath
describes these accomplishments and many more with respect and awe, and his witty writing makes even
the most gruesome tales fun to read (I'm looking at you, Ranavalona I of Madagascar.) A former
Dreamworks artist, Porath draws these moms in all their variety, creating cartoony illustrations that are
cinematic, upbeat, and inspiring.--Biz Hyzy
YA: Teens will get a kick out of these fairy tale-like stories about real women performing incredible feats.
BH.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Hyzy, Biz. "Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History's Mightiest Matriarchs." Booklist, 1 Apr. 2018, p.
37. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A534956804/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=04851936. Accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A534956804
QUOTE:
Get this book for yourself and loan it to Mom – although you may never get it back. Between the incredible illustrations, the laughs inside, and Mom Tales you’ll eat up, “Tough Mothers” is a book you’ll both sink your nails into.
Book Review: Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs, by Jason Porath
Editor May 13, 2018
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs” by Jason Porath
c.2018, Dey Street $24.99 / $31.00 Canada
244 pages
Your mom is tough as nails.
The minute you were placed in her arms, she became your personal warrior, cheerleader, and banker. She remembers the good things you did and (sigh) the dumb things you tried. She pretends to forget why she ever gave you That Look. And in the new book “Tough Mothers” by Jason Porath, you’ll meet other women just like her.
Good old Mom.
Through the years, she’s worn many hats: nurse, playmate, disciplinarian, chauffer, chef, advisor. Without her, let’s face it, you wouldn’t have been born. Mom’s made you laugh, she’s made you cringe by living “fully, brashly, boldly” and, says Porath, “You are not alone.” In this book, you’ll read about other kids’ moms.
Take, for instance, Toronto mom Vera Peters, a cancer doctor who, in 1949, proved that new ways of treating breast cancer were better than the old ways. Male doctors didn’t want to believe her but once they finally did, Peters’ methods undoubtedly saved a lot of other mom’s lives.
Bella Abzug was a “wrecking ball of a human being,” says Porath, but some preferred to think of her as fierce. No doubt she was: even today, minorities, LGBT individuals, and women enjoy the fruits of Abzug’s work.
In first century China, Mother Lü’s son was killed by a corrupt government magistrate. No one would blame her for wanting revenge, but she didn’t get it immediately; instead, she turned to her neighbors with works of sweetness and charity. Of course, they became steadfastly loyal to her, took the stockpile of weaponry she’d amassed, and went to war against Lü’s enemies on her behalf.
Sojourner Truth became one of the first black women to successfully sue a white man in America. Susan La Flesche Picotte built a hospital for the Omaha nation that opened in 1913; not long afterward, she died there of bone cancer. Aborigine Molly Craig walked across Australia twice: once, carrying her sisters away from a government “concentration camp” and once, carrying her daughter. And despite being beaten, arrested, and jailed, Fannie Lou Hamer marched…
When you first pick up “Tough Mothers,” don’t let yourself be confused. Yes, it looks every bit like something you’d read to a six-year-old, but don’t: this is no butterflies-and-unicorns princess book. As author Jason Porath asserts in his introduction, the majority of what you’ll read here is absolutely for a mature audience.
Indeed, you’ll want to brace yourself (and warn Mom!) if you’re the sensitive sort: Porath recounts violent tales of war and cruelty, death and abuse, outrageous laws and senseless loss throughout the centuries, and some of it is cringe-worthy. To the good, though, and to be fair, this is well-researched, historical information; it’s tempered with humor; and Porath warns his readers with color-coded indications of what’s to come.
Get this book for yourself and loan it to Mom – although you may never get it back. Between the incredible illustrations, the laughs inside, and Mom Tales you’ll eat up, “Tough Mothers” is a book you’ll both sink your nails into.
head shot 11-06 laying 2 (2)The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books.
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QUOTE:
The art by Paroth is gorgeous, as each panel captures these women in action, in the most gorgeous colors and vivid light. Altogether, a great book that will have the reader looking up these heroes, as all these women should be celebrated.
Review: Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs
Posted on May 13, 2018 by pharoahmiles
Mothers are the first gatekeepers to the world that most of us know. They are the ones who we hold close to us when we are first born and who we miss most soon after they leave this earth. We usually celebrate them on their birthday and today, Mother’s Day, but the truth is , what they do is really superhuman. The fact that most women who work, are also mothers and wives, and excel in all three areas, without blinking.
In Jason Porath’s sequel to his acclaimed Rejected Princesses, the appropriately named Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs, he introduces readers to real life heroes that some may have heard but most should know. In “the Mother Who Bought Back her Country”, we meet Labotsibeni Gwamile La Mdluli, a shrewd regent whose negotiation skills lead her winning her country, Swaziland from England through measured indifference. In “The Mother of Modern Mastectomy”, we meet Vera Peters, a doctor who previously shown that Hodgkin’s lymphoma is treatable but then through the misogynistic “boys club” that occupied medicine then, that there was a more humane surgical procedure to treat women. In “The Mom Who Went to Washington”, we meet Bella Abzug, a woman who pushed through legislation in the US Congress, for the fair treatment of women in education and banks, bills for child care and LGBT rights, and was one of the frontrunners in ending the war in Vietnam and asking for President Nixon’s impeachment, a firebrand whose legacy runs deep in Washington D.C.
As infamous the name of Hannibal is, there was once a ruler named Anamirenas, as some would know as “The Mother Who Invaded Rome”, the fierce one eyed queen of Kush, who did not cower despite Rome’s defeat of Egypt, but instead rose to the occasion, and whose tactics proved too much for Augustus as it lead him to reach out for permanent peace. In “The Mother Who Made Her Own Fortune”. We meet Madame CJ Walker, a child of ex-slaves, who rose from poverty to become one of America’s first millionaires. In “The Mom Who Became Shogun,” we meet Masako Hojo, a woman who did not take any of her husband’s cheating antic slightly, and when her son proved to be an equally incompetent ruler, she became shogunate, quickly bringing order to a messy government. In the last heroine I will highlight, titled “The Mothers who Toppled a Dictatorship” we meet the Mirabel Sisters, as the advances of a deranged ruler in the Dominican Republic, became a living nightmare for one family, but their story helped turned a nation against the tyranny.
Overall, an essential book in everyone’s personal library, as it shows that women have been more than equals to men, they are superior in many ways. The stories by Paroth are each brilliant, well written and sprinkled with modern colloquialisms . The art by Paroth is gorgeous, as each panel captures these women in action, in the most gorgeous colors and vivid light. Altogether, a great book that will have the reader looking up these heroes, as all these women should be celebrated.
QUOTE:
I highly recommend this book. Read it if you’re a girl. Read it if you’re a guy. Read it if you’re 20 or 80 or anywhere in between. This book will teach you about the forgotten women in history and maybe even a little bit about yourself. And if you want more, don’t forget to check out rejectedprincesses.com.
BOOK REVIEW
Review: Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions & Heretics by Jason Porath
Posted on October 25, 2016
28820006
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 1/2
We all grew up with those princesses. The ones locked in towers waiting for men to save them. The women who were cursed and needed the prince to kiss them so they could awaken. Princesses who were prim, proper and above all, quiet. Perhaps that’s why Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions & Heretics by Jason Porath, born out of his popular web series, was such a refreshing read. It was nice to see page after page of badass women, even if all of them didn’t get their storybook happily ever after ending.
The book presents a hundred stories of women (real, maybe real and mythical) across space and time, across cultures and continents that broke the mold of expectations and did something great, even if it didn’t end well. From Mongolian wrestling great Khutulan to ant-lynching journalism rockstar to Baroque painter extraordinaire Artemisia Gentileschi, this book is chock full of women to look up to and enjoy learning about (Most of the time. Some of them made really crappy decisions, but hey, they were human). These are the stories of women you don’t learn about in school or anywhere else. Their stories are messy sometimes, but always glorious.
My favorite stories included Te Puea Herangi, Pope Joan, Josephine Baker, Jezebel, Joan of Arc, Ada Lovelace, Ida B. Wells and Artemisia Gentileschi. I loved the wide variety of women represented and knowing that this is a book that I can read again and again and still learn new things about each of the women. It feels like a fairy tale book for adults, for who I am and what I need today as a twenty-one-year-old woman about to go out into the world.
One of the things I loved most about this book was the art. A former animator for DreamWorks Animation, the style of the princesses’s portraits is fun, vibrant, bold and energetic. While I wish more body shapes and sizes were represented in the images and some of the changes in favor of aesthetics over historical accuracy were mildly irksome, I loved looking at the pictures and reading the art notes scattered throughout the stories that explained why Porath depicted the women the way that he did. It was nice to see his intention behind each image and the images made the book feel even more like a storybook.
Hatshepsut, art from Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath
I also loved the trigger warning system Porath used in the book. Clear, non-invasive and color-coded, both the maturity rating from 1 to 5 and the content warnings for different issues were useful in navigating stories that might be more difficult to read. Appearing on the top left of the first page of each story, they were easy to read and navigate. Porath got trigger warnings right and seamlessly brought them into his gorgeously designed storybook. I also loved that the stories were organized in order of maturity instead of alphabetically, as it made the book feel less like a roster and more like a collection.
The takeaway is that I highly recommend this book. Read it if you’re a girl. Read it if you’re a guy. Read it if you’re 20 or 80 or anywhere in between. This book will teach you about the forgotten women in history and maybe even a little bit about yourself. And if you want more, don’t forget to check out rejectedprincesses.com.
Note: I received an advance copy of Rejected Princesses from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.
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Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions & Heretics
BY JASON PORATH
Arleigh Johnson
Find & buy on
From 1500 BCE to the 20th century, this compendium is packed with famous as well as lesser-known women of history who, in the animator-turned-author’s view, would not have made the cut in the film industry for various reasons. There are fairytale legends, empresses, actresses, women of the Bible, slaves, revolutionists, warriors, and even a few real princesses.
With much humor, the author introduces readers to 100 women who made their mark in history, but would not be the best on-screen heroines for children. Since historical fact is sketchy when it comes to women’s history, the author outlines the likely fanciful details and includes footnotes where needed.
The artwork is in a modern cartoonist style–Porath worked for DreamWorks Animation—with Art Notes and Trivia at the end of most chapters. This is a bulky, though well-made hardcover, with sleek pages and content organization that is pleasing to the eye. Though young readers may be drawn to its attractive appearance, it is recommended and, in fact, color-coded for PG through R ratings due to content with violence, abuse, sex, rape and self-harm. It makes an enjoyable read for those who like to delve into unremarked collections of history.