CRACKING KIDS TALES
Books to keep the young ones happy.
FRANCESCA CAVALLO and Elena Favilli are raising a global army of rebel girls.
The Italian authors of best-selling children’s book Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls are the beating heart behind a burgeoning movement which encourages young females around the world to defy gender restraints and achieve their wildest dreams
But the California-based writers, who have just released volume two in the series, reveal that beside their mothers, their great inspiration in life is Scotland’s own J.K. Rowling.
Edinburgh’s Harry Potter author is featured in the new book which highlights the lives of extraordinary women past and present.
It celebrates Rowling’s humble beginnings, her struggles and painful failures, and the incredible tenacity which led to her meteoric success.
Francesca, who with partner Elena owns and runs children’s media company Timbuktu Labs, says: “Our mothers have always been our strongest role models, and our grandmothers too. We both come from families with strong women.
“But Serena Williams, Hillary Clinton and J.K. Rowling are our role models today.
“J.K. Rowling has reached out to us in support of Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls and wished us further success, which means the world to us.”
The couple say the sexism they encountered during their time working in Silicon Valley compelled them to target girls with a strong, empowering message.
Francesca explains: “To us, being a ‘rebel girl’ means living on your own terms and resisting society’s expectations.
“Most women face some sort of sexism on daily basis, and being a rebel is about finding a way of surviving and succeeding against the odds.
“The rebel girls featured in these books are not perfect women but, in their lifetimes, they have achieved something extraordinary.
“They show that real women can achieve incredible goals.”
Each biography is written in the style of a bedtime story and illustrated by a female artist.
And in addition to big hitters such as Madonna and TV host Oprah Winfrey, the latest offering features lesser-known but equally remarkable characters including Mary Fields, who became the US Postal Service’s first African American female employee in her 60s because she was the fastest at hitching horses, Merritt Moore who combined her love of quantum physics with ballet, and Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker who saved more than 800 Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War.
But boys can benefit from their stories, too.
Francesca says: “The stories are a great source of inspiration for anyone, male or female, child or adult.
“We hope that parents will also read these stories to their sons as it’s crucial they also learn to identify and empathise with female heroes!”
The writers – who are hoping to visit Scotland soon – have been bowled over by their success. The first book was translated into 42 languages with more on the way.
“We could have never imagined something like this,”says Francesca.
“We are proud that it has been so popular.
“Every girl deserves to grow up thinking she can be anything she wants, and we hope we have spread that message.
“It’s become more than a series of books. It’s a Rebel Girls movement which empowers girls and women through the bright example of other women who changed, and are changing, the world.”
And the authors – Francesca, previously a theatre director and Elena a former journalist – are part of that force.
They made a $100,000 donation to the Malala Fund from the proceeds of their first book. The fund aims to give the gift of education to 130 million girls around the world and is co-founded by Pakistani student and activist Malala Yousafzai who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban.
All eyes are now on the future, says Francesca.
“We’ve always looked at our books as the stepping stone of a larger media company,” she explains.
“That’s why we’ve also tackled radio with our recently released Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls podcast.
“This is a storytelling revolution and we’re just getting started.”
Did she ever dream in her youth of becoming a campaigning author and entrepreneur?
“Honestly,” she smiles. “As a child, I wanted to be bus driver – or a police dog!”