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By MIRIAM CHEW
A dozen titles that tell of women who overcame the odds, seized opportunities and made things better for themselves and others
HIDDEN FIGURES BY MARGOT LEE SHETTERLY
Based on a true story, Hidden Figures is set amidst the civil rights movement — a time of racial and gender inequality. In a race between the United States and Russia to put the first man on the moon, a group of professionals at NASA worked as ‘human computers’ to calculate the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a small group of African-American women, talented mathematicians whose efforts played a vital role in this mission despite the prejudiced treatments that they had to endure. This is the untold story of five courageous women whose work left a mark in history and was immortalised in a 2016 movie of the same name.
ELOQUENT RAGE: A BLACK FEMINIST DISCOVERS HER SUPERPOWER
BY BRITTNEY COOPER
The title of this book is derived from the emotions women of colour feel when existing in society on a daily basis, feelings often deemed ugly and destructive. In this honest and vulnerable work, Brittney Cooper reminds readers that anger and rage are necessary and a powerful source of energy from which to draw the strength to keep on fighting. Encircling topics of friendship and feminism, Hillary Clinton and Sandra Bland, violence and family, sex and faith and race and gender, Cooper also takes the opportunity to hold her readers accountable for the injustice that is prevalent around them while skilfully showing good- humoured compassion.
SWAN: THE LIFE AND DANCE OF ANNA PAVLOVA BY LAUREL SNYDER
With beautifully illustrated pictures that elegantly capture the aura of this story, Swan tells of a young girl from an environment of adversity whose life is forever changed after her mother takes her to see a ballet recital for the first time. Entranced by the performance that unfolded before her eyes, young Anna embarks on a journey to become the most famous prima ballerina of all time, determined to let the gift of music and dance be known all around the world, bringing inspiration to legions of dancers after her. This story teaches determination and generosity and serves as an inspiration for all young dancers out there.
WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES: MYTHS AND STORIES OF THE WILD WOMAN ARCHE- TYPE BY CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS
Women and wolves have a lot in common: playfulness, strength, courage, curiosity. They care for their young and are adaptive. When growing up as a young girl near the woods in northern Michigan, Clarissa Pinkola Estés would often hear wolves howling, but it did not scare her. Instead, she felt comforted in ways she later explains in the book, where she uses ancient myths, fairy tales, folk tales and stories from her own tradition to help women find their way back to the instinctual and fierce nature they possess — the wild woman archetype.
SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN
BY SHELLEY PARKER-CHAN
Set during 14th-century China, this book takes readers into the lives of the Zhu family in a famine- stricken village, where the fate of greatness for anyone is merely a fairytale. But mystery falls upon the village when Zhu Chongba, the eighth-born son is bestowed the fate of greatness while Zhu, the clever and capable second daughter, receives the fate of nothingness. Zhu and her brother find themselves orphaned after a bandit attack in the village, leaving her the only survivor after the latter succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, Zhu takes on the identity of her brother to claim his fate of “abandoned greatness”.
GRACE FOR PRESIDENT BY KELLY DIPUCCHIO
Grace’s teacher was hanging up posters of all the presidents of the United States when she asks: “Where are the girls?” That is the day Grace decides she is going to be the country’s first and immediately embarks on her political career by running for her school’s mock election. Her ambitions, however, are challenged when faced with a widely favoured opponent who claims he is the “best man for the job”. In this book, Kelly DiPucchio brilliantly plants thought-provoking ideas in the minds of her young audience, teaching girls to not allow their gender to hinder their dreams, as well as explains the complexity of the American electoral system.
WINGS OF EBONY BY J ELLE
J Elle’s debut fantasy novel features Rue, a half-divine, half-human individual who was forcefully taken away from her younger sister, Tasha, after the death of their mother to live in Ghizon, a hidden island of magical wielders. On the anniversary of mum’s death, Rue breaks the rules of the island by leaving to visit Tasha in Houston, where she discovers black kids are forced into crime and violence, and Tasha’s life is in danger from the very force that claimed their mother’s life. To protect everything and everyone that matters to her, Rue must learn to embrace her true identity and harness the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighbourhood before the gods burn it to the ground.
FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT
BY ELLE COSIMANO
Allow Elle Cosimano to introduce you to Finlay Donovan, who is … not killing it at the moment. Being a newly divorced single mother trying to obtain custody of her kids and an author way past a book deadline, Donovan is struggling to make ends meet. One day, when she is overheard talking to her agent about a plot for her new suspense novel, Donovan is mistaken for a contract killer and is hired to kill the husband of a woman who offers her a reward of US$50,000. This unintentional affair causes Donovan to become tangled in a real-life murder investigation, making this novel the exciting and darkly humorous one that it is.
THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE BY ABI DARÉ
Living in a rural Nigerian village, 14-year-old Adunni wants nothing more than to go to school and become a teacher. However, the path to her dreams has many obstacles: poverty, lack of opportunity, the exploitation of children, enforced servitude, and the wide gap between rich and poor — especially after her supportive mother dies. If you are looking for a book with lively characters who display admirable strength and optimism to inspire you, read this story of many girls in our world today who are often overlooked.
THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE BY ABI DARÉ
Living in a rural Nigerian village, 14-year-old Adunni wants nothing more than to go to school and become a teacher. However, the path to her dreams has many obstacles: poverty, lack of opportunity, the exploitation of children, enforced servitude, and the wide gap between rich and poor — especially after her supportive mother dies. If you are looking for a book with lively characters who display admirable strength and optimism to inspire you, read this story of many girls in our world today who are often overlooked.
