Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

I am 20yo and I am always on a lookout for a good story to read before bed, but I also appreciate reading books like this when you crave simplicity and relaxation; that is why I chose to request this book. So thank you to Rebel Girls the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

To start off, the cover is stunning and a great representation of what you are about to read. Each changemaker gets a page of writing about them with a cartoon portrait and quote attached in alphabetical order. I had some criteria in mind when reading this book and deciding how to rate this book. The book fulfils my criteria/expectations, desires and beyond. I judged this book based on the way it was written, if it's informative but not overwhelming, if I liked the artwork, if I felt that a diverse group of people were represented (age, location, disabilities etc.).

The writing is consistent throughout and never jarring. It is simple, to the point and enjoyable due to its fairytale-like style. I appreciated the addition of DOBs (Date of Births) as it showcases a diverse age range within young changemakers, but I thought it's questionable that Nora Al Matrooshi's DOB was incomplete. I figured perhaps it would be fairly easy as a publisher to ask someone or their representative for that information. Anyway, I found the book informative and fun, never overwhelming. That is if you don't read all at once because learning and retaining information about 100 people is hard, even if you know some of them already. I liked nearly all the artwork, loved some of the artwork and disliked maybe a few because I thought it was not up to standard. The art is vibrant, colorful and big. I recall really liking the artwork for Billie Eilish (credit: Paula Zorite) and Greta Thunberg (credit: Pau Zamro). Yes, this book does a good job of crediting artists throughout and I highly respect that.

I would say I did not know the majority of the changemakers beforehand, so that is a good thing. I am glad that it is not celebrity heavy, because the focus on inventors who change their community and other people's in turn are my favourite. I really liked the diversity of age within young people and I fit squarely in. It was kind of weird seeing changemakers born after 2010 because I forget it's been so many years since then, but really happy to see of course. So many countries/nationalities were mentioned and that makes me happy as a WoC.

Lastly, I liked how extensive the crediting is at the back of the book and that the art is credited on the changemakers' page itself without being distracting. There has been a lot of thought and care put into the formatting and structure of this book. It is beautiful and I imagine a physical copy would be even nicer to hold. I also appreciate that there are some relevant and reflective activities, so that the reader is left with something to consider about themselves.

I found this book empowering and uplifting, so I would recommend this book to people who like fairytale styled books and just want to know about young people who are making changes in the world. I thought I knew it all but I don't. This is a good compilation and would encourage anyone to read this book, as I wish I had something like this growing up.