Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls: Black Girl Magic Book Review

Reviewed by Charlotte Gatehouse

My daughter is 6 and is starting to outgrow most of her bedtime story books, everyday she is gaining a better understanding of the world and I am pleased to be reading her stories from the Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls book. I received the new Black Girl Magic edition which contains 100 real life tales of Black women and girls from all over the world. Representation is so important, well done Rebel Girls for bringing the focus on these awesome ladies.

The book is edited by Lilly Workneh, foreword by Cashawn Thompson. Each tale is featured over a double page, one side the story of a brilliant lady and the other an illustration of her. The stories are short and a great length to hold my daughters attention, we have been reading 3 a night before bed and she just loves hearing them, asking her questions and I can almost feel her mind soaking up the positivity from the pages. There are entrepreneurs, activists, sports women, Musicians, Doctors, Architects, Authors and Mechanics (to name a few) really hammering in the message that she can be and do anything she wants to.

These women are great role models and it’s a pleasure to read about their achievements. Absolutely my daughter should be aware of their stories and she should be educated on racism, environmental issues, cultural differences and sexism in a gentle way she can understand, this book is a great way of introducing those difficult topics.

My daughter has her favourite tales (quite a lot of them) she loves reading about Kristal Ambrose, environmentalist and how she protected the ocean, The All-Women community of Umoja and Samarria Brevard the Skateboarder. If I am honest I have learnt a lot and have really enjoyed reading them too.

At the back of the book there is a space for her to write her own story as well as ideas for related activities.

The Rebel Girls books send just the message I want my daughter to hear, that she is brave and strong and amazing and can achieve anything she dreams of.. the dedication reads…
‘To the Rebel Girls of the world:
Believe in your dreams
Embrace your power
Unleash your magic
And always remember,
You are limitless.’
Love this, it’s exactly what all our daughters need to hear.

The Rebel girls range of books has grown since I had last looked, there is the original tales of extraordinary women, and a Volume 2, there is also tales of 100 immigrant women that have changed the world as well as chapter books plus puzzles and more than I can mention. I will certainly be adding to our collection.
If I can in some small way make my daughter feel powerful then what a gift that is.

I will be buying the rebel girls books for all the girls in my family and our daughters of friends. The book is currently on sale from Amazon for £16.56 (price correct at time of writing review), it is a good quality hardcover so this is a reasonable price.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £16.56 currently on Amazon (£25 before discount)

This book can be purchased on Amazon here.