Oct. 11 is International Day of the Girl, a time to bring attention “to the needs of and challenges facing girls...while promoting girls' empowerment and ensuring the fulfillment of their human rights,” writes Jessica Dee Humphreys and Canadian politician, Rona Ambrose, who led the global movement to create the day, in the book titled The International Day of the Girl, Celebrating Girls Around the World.
International Day of the Girl was made official in 2011.
Here are eight books that celebrate all things girl.
Citizen Kid The International Day of the Girl, Celebrating Girls Around the World (Kid Can Press, www.kidscanpress.com/)
Citizen Kid is a collection of books to help children learn and be empowered to be better global citizens.
In The International Day of the Girl, we meet girls in various parts of the world. Each girl showcases a trait such as smart, inventive or caring, among others. We learn about a particular girl and how she imbues that trait. Then on a sidebar, we learn about how girls are often treated in a particular country and how education can help their futures.
We learn about Hana from Afghanistan and Mallika from India. Sokanon, who is brave, is from a Indigenous community in north Canada and she used her voice to ensure her classmates have a real school to learn in rather than in mouldy temporary trailers with portable washrooms.
Each story in the book is a representative of the millions of girls who “inspired this important day...Their experience remind us how even the youngest of us can overcome challenges and make positive change in our communities and beyond – every day.”
It was interesting to read the stories that make up this book and how girls throughout the world are preserving despite all odds.
111 Trees
111 Trees by Rina Singh is another book in Kids Can Press' Citizen Kid series.
This book is based on a true story of how one community in India celebrates the birth of every girl in their village by planting 111 trees.
At the beginning of the story, life for girls was very different. The birth of boys was celebrated with banging of pots, while the birth of girls was met with silence and considered a burden. Until one day, the leader of the village, whom we meet at the beginning of the story as a little boy who loses his mother after she was bit by a poisonous snake, grows up. He gets married and has children, including daughters, one whom passes away.
The man, Sundar Paliwal, begins to work to change the views of his village, telling them how life is like in other places, including how boys and girls are treated equally. Eventually, the village accepts his ideas, planting 111 trees for every girl born. Eventually, as their village, ravaged by mining, becomes lush and bountiful, improving the lives of everyone living in it.
What an amazing story. Sundar seems like an amazing person. He notices what is wrong in his piece of the world and works hard to make it better and equal for everyone. I love the real pictures at the end and more information about the Sundar's and his respect for all living things.
Canadian Women Now + Then, More than 100 stories of Fearless Trailblazers (Kids Can Press, www.kidscanpress.com/)
In this book by Elizabeth MacLeod and Maia Faddoul, we learn about Canadian women from the past and from today who are doing groundbreaking work in various categories from activism and astronauts to lawyers and Paralympians.
There is also a section titled Then + Now,which features women who are doing amazing things in one career, and then moved on to a second.
I liked that you got an overview on each of the Canadian women featured in this book. I would have liked to see real pictures rather than illustrations, but otherwise the book was interesting and a great way to learn about amazing Canadian women.
Corpse Talk Groundbreaking Women (DK, https://www.dk.com/ca/)
Corpse Talk Groundbreaking Women by Adam and Lisa Murphy is a unique way to tell the history of “astonishing” women throughout time from Hypatia, a mathematician and philosopher (360s-415) and Joan of Arc (Saint, 1412-1431) to Ching Shih (Pirate Queen, 1775-1844) and Harriet Tubman (abolitionist 1822-1913).
The host of the Corpse talk show is Adam Murphy who introduces each dead woman, asking her questions about her life. The women, who are all dead of course, tell their story in graphic novel form. There is a lot of information packed into each woman's story; each pane has a fair bit of dialogue or information, which can be a bit overwhelming. Some pages also have timelines or other graphic elements, which is neat. Adam introduces some humour and many of the woman get as passionate as they likely did when they were alive.
Corpse Talk is a fun away to learn about some amazing women from the past.
DC Brave and Bold, Female DC Super Heroes Take on the Universe Marvel Fearless and Fantastic, Female Super Heroes save the World (DK, https://www.dk.com/ca/)
Both of these superhero books featuring women from the DC and Marvel universes are written by Sam Maggs.
The superheroes in both books are arranged related to their personality traits including compassion, curiosity and daring, among others.
As Maggs writes, “Each character may possess a combination, or all, of these qualities; the chapter they appear in indicates that they are a particularly good example of that strength.”
Each superhero is featured on a double page spread – one page provides information about superhero including what their super power is, their relation to other superheroes and some of their personal victories. There is a quote and a picture of them. In the DC version, there is a data file of friends and allies, occupations and base, while the Marvel version includes only friends, allies and role models.
Both are great books, but I am a Marvel girl more than a DC girl so I like the Marvel book betters. Both are fun to flip through and looking up the amazing women who make up our superhero universe.
My interview with Sam Maggs and Jessica Dee Humphreys is posted here: https://booktime584.
Greta Thunberg I know this be true (Nelson Mandela Foundation; iknowthistobetrue.org; Raincoast Books, www.raincoast.com)
In this book, we learn about teenager Greta Thunberg, who inspired students all over the world to host school strikes to demand adults stop climate change.
The book is a combination of background information and a Q&A with the teen activist about why she fights for the environment and why it's important for others to do the same.
I knew very little about Greta going into the book, but you have to respect the teen whose actions speak as loudly as her words.
The main thing I didn't like about this book is I felt it didn't go far enough into how we can help. II would have liked concrete steps I can take to help our planet.
The League of Super Feminists (Raincoast Books, www.raincoast.com)
In The League of Super Feminists, Mirioin Malle discusses representation in media in regards to what woman are seeing about themselves, breaking down the potential harm of seeing the same stories over and over – including about friendship and romance (and a page about consent), privilege, gender and the views of feminists.
Told in a graphic novel style, there is a fair bit of information presented on each page.
There was information I didn't know, some that made me think and some that made me roll my eyes. The illustrations aren't my favourite, although I did laugh at the fact the Malle make the boy a penis and the girl a vagina and used Penis Boy and Vagina Girl to make her point.
Lisa Day is the author of two book blogs, Book Time, where she reviews a variety of books for a variety of readers and offers author Q&As, and followsummer.com
