I really, really wish they had been able to write this book outside of the young adult framework. I am hungry for references, sources, citations, and footnotes. The streamlining necessary for a younger audience feels unfortunately reductive here, which is a great loss. Still, if you're looking for ways to diversify your historical fiction, there are several improbable potential heroes and heroines to be found here, as well as a nice slice of history that is criminally overlooked.

"Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (c. 1853 – March 7, 1942) was an American labor organizer, radical socialist and anarchist communist. She is remembered as a powerful orator. Parsons entered the radical movement following her marriage to newspaper editor Albert Parsons and moved with him from Texas to Chicago, where she contributed to the newspaper he famously edited, The Alarm. Following her husband's 1887 execution in conjunction with the Haymarket Affair, Parsons remained a leading American radical activist as a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and other political organizations."

From Wikipedia: "Edmonia Lewis was an African/Native American sculptor (African, Ojibwe and Haitian) who worked for most of her career in Rome. Her heritage is African-American and Native American and she gained fame and recognition as a sculptor in the international fine arts world."