An Italian book to inspire young women
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An Italian book to inspire young women

“Goodnight stories for rebel girls” is challenging some of the prejudices of children’s literature

"I don't look like every other girl. It takes a while to be OK with that. To be different. But different is good", says the famous tennis player Serena Williams to the little girls that will be reading a new book published by two Italian women aimed at helping the youngest generations of females to identify themselves in outstanding and successful women.

As explained by the Italian dailyCorriere della Sera, "Goodnight stories for rebel girls" is a selection of one hundred stories that Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavillo, two Italian business women based in Los Angeles, have decided to write to inspire young women and to convince them they can be successful because they are females.

It is a matter of fact that literature for children is still full of stereotypes. Even very famous old books keep on projecting a very biased image of gender and ethical relationship as they have been written at a time in which all these ideas were accepted. Just to make an example, if you have a look at the famous "The Little Prince" written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943, you will certainly identify lots of statements that would be considered racist today. At that time, they were just normal common sense.

With their project, Favilli and Cavillo are trying to challenge these prejudices. Among the protagonists of their book are Frida Kahlo, Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Brontë sisters, the scientist Maria Sibylla Merian, or the tennis player Serena Williams. No matter what their readers are dreaming, they will find a new idol to follow.

The two Italian authors have been successful since they tried to collect resources for their publication: they were looking to scrape together 40 thousand dollars through crowdfunding, but they got 728.760. More than enough to be ready to launch the book by the end of the year.

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Claudia Astarita

Amo l'Asia in (quasi) tutte le sue sfaccettature, ecco perché cerco di trascorrerci più tempo possibile. Dopo aver lavorato per anni come ricercatrice a New Delhi e Hong Kong, per qualche anno osserverò l'Oriente dalla quella che è considerata essere la città più vivibile del mondo: Melbourne. Insegno Culture and Business Practice in Asia ad RMIT University,  Asia and the World a The University of Melbourne e mi occupo di India per il Centro Militare di Studi Strategici di Roma. Su Twitter mi trovate a @castaritaHK, via email a astarita@graduate.hku.hk

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