OUR daughters might grow up believing the world’s their oyster, but how many truly admirable role models are there among all those dubious celebrities?

Here they’ll meet formidable women such as Catherine Littlefield Green, who invented a spinning machine in the 18th Century, helping to create a major industry (though her husband took the credit for it); Queen Isabella I of Castile, who led an army into the field; Dame Ellen MacArthur, the round-the-world yachtswoman, and Julia Margaret Cameron, the eminent Victorian photographer.

Readers will also discover that equal rights still have a long way to go. For example, only one per cent of the world’s assets are owned by women.

And men still subtly keep the best jobs for themselves, as exemplified by Nasa failing to order any womansized spacesuits, thus blocking female astronauts. A light-hearted read with lots of amusing pictures, guaranteed to stimulate discussion. (Age 8+)