Lumber Jills: The Unsung Heroines of World War II

In her debut picture book, Davis celebrates the young women who served in Britain’s forest industry during WWII, with rhythmic text centered on numbers—“twenty-seven new girls signing up to serve,” “two hundred cheerful girls learn to cut the trees,” “six painful blisters heal”—and punctuated, sometimes incongruously, by the refrain “two hands willing to work and one stout heart.” Neither the meter, rhyme, nor numerical order seems to follow a clear pattern of progression, which lends the text a haphazard feel, and readers will have to wait until halfway through the book to learn the purpose for the women’s work, although an endnote fills in needed historical context. Illustrations by Hickey (Once upon a Magic Book) use washes of color and a loose line to capture the bustle of a women-filled lumber camp and make canny use of small details (the ridges of corduroy pants; the bumps of a knit sweater). Posters calling out the National Service, the Women’s Land Army, and “Women Work for Victory” evoke a bygone era. While the presentation is uneven, this offering introduces a historical chapter that’s rarely featured in picture books. Ages 3–5. [em](Mar.) [/em]