Rebel Girls Champions: 25 Tales of Unstoppable Athletes

From YUSRA MARDINI, a swimmer who wants to tell people her story of how her sport, saved her life...To TEGAN VINCENT- COOKE, a para dressage rider having quadriplegic cerebral palsy who loves proving people wrong!From SKY BROWN, who became the youngest professional female skateboarder in the world...To SIMONE BILES, a gymnast who teaches a very important life lesson..."Me being happy outside the gym is just as important as me being happy and doing well in the gym".From SARAH FULLER, soccer and football player who's helmet said "play like a girl",To MEGAN RAPINOE, a soccer player who said "putting yourself out there is hard but it's so much worth it". She publicly announced that she was gay & believed everyone should have the right to get married. She protested against racial injustice, fought for gender equality & equal pay.⚘These are just a few of the amazing 25 Olympic women champions, each of whom has an inspiring story to tell, where they fought obstacles to reach their dreams!❤One thing I noticed about all these stories is that, almost all these champions, began very young & they were focused towards their aim. They loved their sport & faced physical & other obstacles with zeal & a never damping spirit.It's a highly inspiring book, a collection of 25 real life stories. A very good gift for young kids, especially girls.I loved reading 📚 through it & even searched and followed some on social media handles.Source: @netgalley @rebelgirls🌈About the AuthorRebel Girls is a global, multi-platform empowerment brand dedicated to helping raise the most inspired and confident global generation of girls through content, experiences, products, and community. Originating from an international best-selling children's book, Rebel Girls amplifies stories of real-life, extraordinary women throughout history, geography, and field of excellence. With a growing community of nearly 20 million self-identified Rebel Girls spanning more than 100 countries, the brand engages with Generation Alpha through its book series, award-winning podcast, events and merchandise.#netgalley #rebelgirls #rebelgirlsbook

I love the Rebel Girls series and I think I have read every single book published by them (except for the journals.) If you know the pattern of the books, you already know what this book has to offer. But just in case you don’t, let me offer you a quick glimpse into the three broad types of books from this brand.1. ‘Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls” – a series offering a one page bio on 100 women personalities from diverse fields and multiple countries.2. Rebel Girls series: A shorter version of the above series, offering a glimpse in the lives of 25 women leaders from specific fields. Eg. ‘Rebel Girls Lead”, which is about women achievers in business and politics and other modes of leadership.3. Chapter Books: These offer a biography of one woman achiever per book, with the story going into elaborate details on their life rather than a one page summary. These are about 128 pages long.This book falls in the second category and brings to you the stories of 25 fabulous women from sports. The Rebel Girls series usually ensures that diversity is taken care of, and this book does so to a great extent. The book includes sportswomen from myriad sports such as snowboarding, pole vaulting, gymnastics, basketball, swimming, bouldering, and so on… (And it includes Paralympics performers as well, a huge plus point!) At the same time, I felt that too many of the stories were from the United States. Surely there are more women sports achievers in the world! Imagine someone like Diana Edulji, a successful woman cricketer from a country that refuses to treat women's cricket at par with men's cricket, or someone like Leila Esfandyari, the Iranian mountain climber. It would have been wonderful to see even more international diversity.Many of the included bios are taken from the Goodnight Stories books while some names make their debut appearance. So if you already own the Goodnight Stories books, you will find a bit of repetition. But whether the stories are previously published or not, they are as inspiring as always. I especially loved Yusra Mardini’s story; it brought tears to my eyes.The illustrations also follow the same pattern as always. Each bio is accompanied by a sketch of the sports star drawn by a woman artist. This time, some of the illustrations disappointed me as they seemed more cartoonish than real. This is just my preference but when it comes to illustrations depicting real life personalities, I don’t like cartoonish depictions but a sketch that gives me a glance at the real personality.Nevertheless, this is still a marvellous book to read and will be a valuable addition to all the little sports-loving girls out there who wonder if they have it in them to pursue their dreams. After all, these 25 women have shown that being a woman isn’t a hurdle but an advantage.Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.