Born A Girl: It Takes Courage

by Alice Dussutour, David Warriner (Translator)

Overview

★“This informative and inspiring offering should help teens assert their rights.”— Booklist, starred review

When you’re born a girl, some parts of the world are kinder places to grow up in than others.

Meet Kaneila, Jade, Mahnoosh, Makena and Luisa. They are five girls in five different countries whose lives are overshadowed by violence and injustice, just because they are female. These girls navigate the challenges and horrors of period poverty, female genital mutilation, lack of access to education, body shaming and femicide. The stories are heartbreaking but also inspiring, as the girls are surrounded by people who bring hope and speak out for equality.

Following each story is a section that explains the real-life circumstances for girls in many parts of the world, important terms, and what girls and women are doing to take action today.

For these girls, their individual experiences of being born a girl may be different, but their desire for freedom and equality is universal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459838987
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	03/12/2024
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Alice Dussutour is a French illustrator and author. Her work is colorful, feminist and joyful. After studying art direction for five years, she developed her passion for illustration and published her first book, Naître fille, the original French version of Born A Girl, in 2022. Alice lives in Paris.

David Warriner grew up in the UK and escaped to Quebec right after graduating from Oxford. A professional translator for nearly two decades, David nurtures a healthy passion for Quebec fiction and has translated a range of fiction, nonfiction and children’s fiction titles by Quebec authors for British and Canadian publishers. He lives in Penticton, British Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

[Explores] important issues that everyone, regardless of gender, should be familiar with. The experiences of each girl and the barriers the girls face can seem insurmountable, but the critical analysis and cultural change that is needed, or is already happening, found at the end of each story provides inspiration and hope and drives home the message that change and work toward gender equality are everyone’s responsibility. Highly Recommended.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Saturated, vibrantly colored illustrations highlight the girls and symbolic items in their life. The book celebrates those who are working for change from within their cultures. Celebrates girls’ resilience, courage, and initiative.”

Kirkus Reviews

This resource serves as an inspiration of hope, highlighting the ongoing global advocacy and actions towards achieving gender equality...A critical analysis of the issues and possible reactionary culture shifts are discussed.”

BC Books for Schools

Celebrates the courage and resilience of [the] girls who are working to create change in their communities…This book is highly recommended for public and school library collections.”

Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Canadian Children’s Book News

★“Engaging artwork belies the series content of the book, a look at five contemporary misogynistic cultural practices…Each character does stand up for herself and finds support through other women. This informative and inspiring offering should help teens assert their rights.”

starred review Booklist

These topics, while uncomfortable, are necessary for today’s youth to know of…Difficult but necessary, this work is both triggering and empowering.”

School Library Journal (SLJ)

Inspiring…Young teenagers, parents, teachers, and so many others, of both genders, could benefit from reading this book and then by using the knowledge from these powerful sad stories to go forward and make changes to help empower women and girls worldwide. This book could be a great way to start a discussion in a book club about gender equality.”

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)

★“Engaging artwork belies the series content of the book, a look at five contemporary misogynistic cultural practices…Each character does stand up for herself and finds support through other women. This informative and inspiring offering should help teens assert their rights.”

Booklist, starred review

2023-12-06
In this translated import from France, profiles of five fictional girls describe struggles with societal norms and introduce critical gender-related issues.

In a village in Nepal, menstrual taboos exile Kaneila to a distant, doorless hut during her period, leaving her vulnerable to wild animals and sexual assault and banning her from attending school. Even as she questions these superstitions, a biology student from a village that’s discarded this custom comes to educate her class about female physiology, inspiring Kaneila to want to empower other girls. Dussutour then explains how “periods are political,” describing initiatives and challenges worldwide. In France, Jade is fat-shamed by her mother, doctor, classmates, and strangers. She’s humiliated and confused by media messages, but support from her sister and a friend who’s experienced racism help her focus on her body’s strength and share her feelings with her family. The author covers body positivity, the negative toll of diet culture, the prevalence of eating disorders, and related topics. Other chapters talk about Afghanistan (Mahnoosh dresses as a boy so she can have freedom of movement), Kenya (Makena flees female genital mutilation to live in a matriarchal community with her sister), and Mexico (Luisa copes with sexual harassment in public and at school, and her sister becomes a victim of domestic violence). Saturated, vibrantly colored illustrations highlight the girls and symbolic items in their lives. The book celebrates those who are working for change from within their cultures.

Celebrates girls’ resilience, courage, and initiative. (resources, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews