Review by C.J. Bunce
One of the most inspirational books you’ll ever read arrives today. Girl Rebels: Five Inspirational Tales of Courage is the kind of book that should be required in every school and public library in every country. Featuring five stories of powerful and influential adolescent girls who defied their age to make a difference in the world, it’s available today for the first time and you can get it at your local comic shop or here at Amazon. While politicians plague the world with their daily barrage of distractions, as they focus on the immaterial to hide the substantial, these girls–not even young women yet–actually stood up and risked their lives for something they believed in. In a nation where men throw acid on the face of a little girl, 15-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai defied the Talaban, surviving a gunshot to her head to continue speaking out for women’s rights. Her story and those of others will remind readers of all ages not to take for granted the rights so many have fought and died to protect.
Malala would survive the assassination attempt and continue speaking out, embraced by world leaders and ultimately becoming the youngest person and first Pakistani to be given the Nobel Peace Prize, paving the way for girls through the world to be able to attend school where it was before not allowed. Artist Vittoria Macioci illustrated the chapter of this real-world Ms. Marvel.
The stories were written as investigative journalism by Fabien Morin, Laurent Hopman, and Julien Derain, translated by Marc Bourbon-Crook.
Greta Thunberg is probably the most popular and familiar face in Girl Rebels. The daughter of a popular singer, her intelligence in the early grades prompts ostracism from her peers and she is bullied. Upon hearing a presentation on the impending impacts of global warming she becomes transfixed on the horrors to the planet and the future ahead. She succombs to depression and is taken out of school. She refuses to eat. Ultimately the otherwise normal little girl is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and selective mutism. The only area of interest that brings her out of the depression? Learning more about the environment and fighting for it. It manifests as a hypersensitivity to all forms of injustice. A writing contest at age 15 propels her onto the global stage as an advocate for fighting global warming. Finally, her one-girl strike in front of Sweden’s parliament propelled hundreds of thousands to join her cause over time. As she learned, she shared the conclusions and truths from scientists with the world, “92 people possess more money than half the world’s population combined,” and with other youth she appealed to the world on an international stage. “We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not.” To the United Nations she scolded the adults, “People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?” Native American chiefs would dub her “The Woman Who Came from the Heavens.” Jérôme Gillet illustrated this enthralling section on the teenage girl who argued and won against world leaders on the international stage.
Yusra Mardini is a young swimming prodigy in Syria when her country becomes terrorized by extremists in a violent war that nearly results in her death several times. Her story focuses on her escape from Syria on an overcrowded power boat with her sister, father and foreigners from several countries. It’s a harrowing ordeal survived only because she and her sister jump overboard and swim along the boat so it does not capsize. Once her family makes the long trip to a safehaven in Germany, she restarts her swim training. She is selected for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and later she is selected as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, speaking out on behalf of refugees everywhere. Jocelyn Joret is the illustrator of the section on her experience.
Another section chronicles young survivors of the Parkland High School shooting in Florida in 2018, including Emma Gonzalez. They bring together 2 million protestors in 800 cities for the largest gathering of young people since the Vietnam War, and successfully prompt giant corporations to cease support of the National Rifle Association.
The last chapter covers Melati (12) and Isabel Wijsen (10), sisters in Indonesia who take the international stage to educate the masses on the effects of plastic bags on the planet. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, their threat of a hunger strike results in the banning of plastic bags in Indonesia. In their words, “We kids are maybe only 25 percent of the global population, but we are 100% of the future.” This final section was illustrated by Rebecca Traunig.
Librarians, teachers, and kids should consider Girl Rebels in the league of the March series about civil rights leader John Lewis. From publisher Titan Comics, this book is a must for anyone looking for ways to take action and include themselves in the world around them and the causes they believe in. Add it now to your order list at Elite Comics or your local comic shop or find it here at Amazon.
