Rebel Girls

   Our society has always emphasized on story telling to children during the childhood phase. Many children are habituated with listening to stories and falling asleep. The kind of stories told by parents / grandparents include stories from the holy scriptures, Amar Chitra Katha, Panchtantra, Jataka tales, Chacha Chaudhary, stories depicting valour and patriotism, Cindrella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more. Our daughters are in love with Cindrella and fairy tale kind of stories where a handsome knight comes over a flying horse and marries the girl and they live happily ever after. These stories create a perception in the mind of the young girls that to live happily ever after one needs to marry a charming and handsome boy and boys think that the girl one marries to has to be beautiful. There is rarely any story that speaks about the girl being intelligent. This is not the case only in India but also in many other countries.
   Due to this, two girls originally from Italy and residing in England named Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo thought of doing something different. Both Elena and Francesca found that the stories which they read as children portrayed the girl as a pretty doll and the boy as the hero. Thus both began writing real stories of girls who broke the shackles of patriarchy and society to achieve their dreams in various fields. These 100 stories were compiled after gathering information related to 100 girls and their achievements. The language is simple and the narrative is interesting. They have got a different picture for every girl designed by 100 painters. Finally after it was compiled and launched by the title "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls". 30 lakh copies of this book have been sold all over the world.
   The reason behind writing this book is that both Elena and Francesca want to convey a message to all girls that 'everyone has the capacity to achieve whatever they desire'. Only boys do not have the right to be ambitious even girls are ambitious and can achieve everything in life. Dream big, aim high and strive hard to reach your goals. Every parent must purchase this book for their girls and make them read it to know their worth. Your worth does not lie in getting married to a handsome boy but in achieving financial security and being independent enough to fulfill your dreams.