What to Read After… Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls

Published on: 19 July 2021

Finished Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and ready for your next bedtime read? Look no further - here's our pick of the top children's books to follow the inspiring classic.

Fearless women in history

For other collections of present day and historical Great Women, Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Sport: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win and Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World celebrate women who have traditionally been under-recognised in the male-dominated areas of sport and science. In HERSTORY: 50 Women and Girls who Shook the World, Katherine Halligan and Sarah Walsh present a brilliant selection of international great women, and in Stories for South Asian Super Girls: A Treasure Trove of 50 Illustrated Biographies of Amazing South Asian Women Raj Kaur Khaira profiles the lives of South Asian women including Jameela Jamil, Jayaben Desai and Aanchal Malhotra.

Inspiring leaders and pioneers

For in depth stories of individual women’s lives, the Work It, Girl series features contemporary women making a difference in the world such as Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. Laurie Wallmark and Katy Wu’s story of Grace Hopper, an early coder, is told in a picture book ideal for upper primary school readers Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code while the story of how Mary Shelley wrote her groundbreaking novel Frankenstein is explored by Julia Sarda and Linda Bailey in Mary and Frankenstein. Other inspiring stories include Anthea Simmons’ Lightning Mary about Victorian Palaentologist Mary Anning; Sufiya Ahmed’s My Story: Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan profiles the amazing story of Noor Inayat Khan, a spy in World War 2.

Illustration: Rachel Ignotofsky

Discover more incredible heroes

Of course, there are also some brilliant collections out there about the many inspiring men in our worldwide cultures today and including some greats from history, including the inspirational people in Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins’ Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present, and in Arabelle Sicardi and Sarah Tanat-Jones’ Queer Heroes which includes trans and nonbinary heroes. In Just Like Me Louise Gooding profiles 40 neurologically and physically diverse people who have smashed stereotypes, overcome misconceptions and shown the world just what they are capable of.

Illustration: Andrea Pippins

The next generation of rebels

Last, lets not forget that there are millions of children around the world who are an example for us all, from the young people in Loll Kirby and Yas Imamura’s Do Something for Someone Else: Meet 12 real-life children spreading kindness with simple acts of everyday activism to those in Lula Bridgeport’s Young Heroes: Inspirational Children from Around the World, all of whom give us hope for the future.

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