Francesca Cavallo - Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2: 100 more stories of extraordinary women

Goodnight Stories
for Rebel Girls 2

Elena Favilli
Francesca Cavallo

Copyright 2018, Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo

TO THE REBEL GIRLS
OF THE WORLD:

YOUARE THE PROMISE
YOU ARE THE FORCE

DONT STEP BACK,
AND EVERYONE
WILL MOVE FORWARD.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Dearest Rebels,

As you read this letter, the first volume of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is on the nightstands of about one million people. All over the world, children and grown-ups are talking about their favorite rebel girl. Teachers are designing lessons around these pioneers. Politicians are reading these stories at political conventions, young women are opening the book to cheer up after a bad day, and soon-to-be dads are buying it to welcome their daughters into this world.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls has been translated into more than thirty languages, and every day we have the feeling that we hear all of your accents when we receive the messages you send us via email, Facebook, and Twitter. When we see the Instagram pictures of this book in your homes, its a lot like looking at a family album. A family made up of people of every religion, every nationality, every color, every age, every kind. A global family whose members come from small villages (like the ones we grew up in) and from big cities.

One year ago, in our small Los Angeles apartment, we started a little fire. A fire we could gather around to tell each other new kinds of stories.

You joined us. You invited your friends and brought more firewood. You came bringing your hopes, your frustrations, your courage and your fear, your weakness and your strength. You came to listen, but you also came to speak. The fire got bigger. The family grew.

And this is what Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 is about. Its about the stories you told us by that fire. Its about the Asian American female firefighter whom Christine told us about in New York City. Its about the first all-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa, which Rita told us about on Snapchat. Its about the Irish pilot who built herself a plane. Aidan told us about her at a signing event.

Some say that stories cant change the world. But we disagree.

Time and again, you messaged us to say you had discovered a story in our book, and sometimes the story you mentioned wasnt there. The fact is that Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is training hundreds of thousands of people to see stories they couldnt see before. Its inspiring them to look for talent where they thought there was none. Its making it easier to find potential in unpredictable places.

When we tap into the talent of an entire populationinstead of just half of itendless possibilities open up.

When we see each other for what we are, free of harmful stereotypes, we create real progress.

When we recognize oppression and take action to end it, we all become stronger.

As you rest your head on your pillow after reading one or three of these storieswhether its after an exhausting day of play or a long day at work, whether youre in Cape Town or Aotearoa, whether someone read you the story or you read it by yourselfknow that youve just sat by a fire with hundreds of thousands of fellow rebels who, just like you, are on a journey.

The Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series is a small part of a conversation that is bigger than each of us. Bigger than our individual hopes. Certainly bigger than our fears.

Thank you for sitting with us by this fire.

Now lets get started.

Francesca Cavallo

Elena Favilli

AGATHA CHRISTIE

WRITER

O nce upon a time, there was a girl who loved to write. Poems, love stories, mysteries, lettersshe tried them all. Agatha wanted to be a professional writer more than anything. She talked about her dream with her dog, George Washington, during their daily walks. Each new place she and George visited, Agatha looked at as a setting for a story, and every time she met someone, she wondered if that person could be one of her characters.

Agatha sent her stories to magazines but got turned down. The rejection letters kept piling up, but Agatha didnt let that stop her. She was an avid reader and especially loved murder mysteries.

So she wrote her own detective novel.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles featured Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective with a glorious mustache. Many publishers turned down Agathas manuscript, but finally one said yes.

When the novel was published, it was a huge success and marked the beginning of an unbelievable career. Agatha Christies books have sold more than two billion copies and have been translated into over a hundred different languages, making her the best-selling novelist of all time.

Hercule Poirot with his pointy mustache and Miss Marple with her cute hats became two of the most popular literary detectives ever. They appeared in TV shows and movies, and kept millions of people guessing as they figured out whodunnit.

Through her remarkable career, Agatha wrote sixty-six detective novels, fourteen short story collections, and the worlds longest-running play, The Mousetrap.

SEPTEMBER 15, 1890 JANUARY 12, 1976

UNITED KINGDOM

ILLUSTRATION BY
GIULIA TOMAI

THE BEST TIME TO PLAN A BOOK IS WHILE YOURE DOING THE DISHES.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

AISHOLPAN NURGAIV

EAGLE HUNTRESS

O nce there was a thirteen-year-old girl named Aisholpan who lived in the icy-cold Altai Mountains. For seven generations, the men in her tribe had hunted with golden eagles to provide their families with food and fur.

Golden eagles are big, fierce creatures with sharp claws and curved beaks that can be extremely dangerous. But to Aisholpan, they were simply beautiful. She longed to train an eagle of her own, so one day she said to her father, Dad, I know that no girls have ever done this, but if you teach me, Ill be good. Her father, who was a great eagle hunter, paused to think. Then he said, You are strong. You are not afraid. You can do it.

Her heart sang with joy.

Aisholpan and her dad rode their horses high into the snowy mountains. Finding an eaglet to train wasnt easy. Aisholpan reached a nest with a rope tied around her waist, trying not to slip on the sharp rocks. In the nest, she found a tiny golden eagle, all alone.

She covered the birds head with a blanket to calm her down, then brought her home. Aisholpan sang and told stories so that the eaglet would recognize her voice. She fed her small chunks of meat and taught her how to land on her glove. I treat her with respect, because if she trusts me, she wont fly away. We will be a team for a few years. Then Ill return her to the wild. The circle of life must continue.

Aisholpan became the first woman to enter the Golden Eagle competition in lgii, Mongolia. After her, three more girls started training to become eagle hunters.

BORN 2003

MONGOLIA

ILLUSTRATION BY
SALLY NIXON

I PLAN TO TEACH MY YOUNGER SISTER EAGLE HUNTING.

AISHOLPAN NURGAIV

ALICE BALL

CHEMIST

O