If your kids have finished reading the first volume of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, you can now hand them the second volume to read. The battle to end patriarchy is not over, and so it makes perfect sense to have more books with profiles of more wonderful women for the young ones to learn about. The utter genius between the covers of the first volume of this series continues to weave its magic through the second book. Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favili have thoughtfully curated yet another set of stories about iconic women.
Arranged alphabetically, but in no particular order in terms of achievements, are page after page of accounts of ladies with sass, grit, and determination. From Agatha Christie to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Billie Jean King to Steffi Graf, Madonna, Nefertiti, Eleanor Roosevelt, Khoudia Diop, Maryam Mirzakhani and Sojourner Truth, the list of women who shaped the world is eclectic. The writers have taken great care to be inclusive in their selection. Achievers in the book belong to fields as varied as writing, sports, fashion, science, art, adventure, politics, activism, music, and also included are queens and warriors. Apart from the professional diversity, they also belong to different parts of the world and different races. Persons with a range of sexualities and persons with disabilities have also been included. They are rich and poor, famous or less well known, but what is common to all is beating adversity and patriarchy in order to be the best. Sometimes, the women faced rejection or they lost battles, but what they stood for is drawn out sharply for the young reader.