Book Review: My Rad Life

Title: My Rad Life
Author: Kate Schatz
Illustrator: Miriam Klein Stahl
Source/Format: Blogging for Books, hardback
More Details: Guided journal, art, biography, memoir
Publisher/ Release date: Ten Speed Press; August 15, 2017


Synopsis from Penguin Random House:

An inspiring, empowering journal that encourages its owners to think, create, reflect, and explore their own radness.
A companion to the New York Times bestsellers Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide, this cool guided journal draws from a number of the “rad” women featured in both books, while also including a diverse range of new women, all of whom come to life via inspirational quotes and paper cut portraits. Blank pages invite doodling, lined pages encourage writing, and a collection of thought-provoking prompts encourage users to get to know themselves better by recording their thoughts and ideas on paper.

My Thoughts:

I don’t usually get journals that include prompts, but I couldn’t help but notice the title: My Rad Life. Written by Kate Schatz with illustrations by Miriam Klein Stahl, who both worked on the Rad Women book series, this journal features various quotes and prompts to inspire thoughts and writings. Although I haven’t checked out Rad Women Worldwide or Rad Women A-Z, I thoroughly enjoyed this journal.

Riddled throughout the journal are quotes from known women like gymnast Gabby Douglas, Sister Chân Không, and more. As if quotes weren’t enough to get me writing, there are at least twenty prompts that encourage various things like listing the places you’d like to go, listing your goals, or documenting nature.

As for the design, it is already decked out for the most part. With most of the pages being half filled with illustrations or quotes, the layout allows enough space to write personal thoughts. Also, besides blank space, a few of the pages are line, and occasionally there are pages with speech bubbles.

 Finally, since I like to draw, and doodling is encouraged, I tried a bleed test. When I conducted the bleed test, the results of the use of different mediums, besides pencil, varied. As with any regular journal, markers and the darker colors of my water based felt tip pens didn’t do too well; yet, the lighter colors hardly bled. The only Sharpie that didn’t bleed all the way through was the silver metallic color. Finally, I tried one of my Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, and it worked as any other regular pen would.

Overall, this is one of the more fun journals I have had. My only complaint is that, in terms of it staying open, it is a bit difficult to handle at first. But other than that, I’d definitely recommend it, especially as a gift.


I loved it!
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

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