About Me

My photo
Tea-drinking introvert found either behind a book or within arm's reach of one. Book reviewer, and book sniffer. You may have seen me on W24, BooksLive, Aerodrome, Bark Magazine, CultNoise Magazine, or Expound Magazine.

1 Jan 2018

Review: Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo

I’ve always believed that we should strive to learn something new every day; without a bit of knowledge, the day is wasted. My mother taught me that. Today, with the help of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, I learned a few things, all about women of significance.

Favilli and Cavallo (with the help of crowd funding) have presented an important piece of literature for ‘rebel’ girls of any age. Featuring 100 amazing women, each with a beautiful illustration and quote from the lady in question, this will open your eyes to the enormous contributions of women born from as early as 69 BC, to those as recently as 2007. Covering a myriad professions and topics, from athletes and scientists, to activists and tattoo artists, the authors show that the accomplishments of women are widespread, and bend to no stereotype of pattern.

The triumphs of the women included teach resilience, strength, grace, power, and intellect. From Cora Coralina who wrote poetry all her life, only to publish a book at the age of 75, to Kate Sheppard, who helped women in New Zealand attain the right to vote, or Mae Jemison, the first African American women in space, this book is bursting with success stories with firm moral foundations.

Empowering is an insufficient word to describe the effect of this book. It is mesmerizing, beautiful and vital, particularly for young girls who’ve yet to choose their paths.

Despite wanting to keep this book for myself, filled as it is with amazing factoids about brilliant women from across the globe, and throughout history, I am going to gift it to my nieces. That way, I’m spreading the love and showing two more young girls that women can do anything, and that the important work of other women has not only allowed them a present which is filled with possibility, but a future which can be unpredictably bright.


Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo is published by Particular Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

What do you think? Let me know!