Stories for South Asian Super Girls
By Raj Kaur Khaira
Genre: Children’s book, Biographies
Publisher: Kashi House
This collection includes 50 biographies of influential South Asian women. It covers countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Representation matters so much and this book here is so important for all the young South Asian girls. Actually no it's important for all young girls. But especially South Asian girls to see what the women that look like them have achieved. There is so much to be learned from these 50 admirable women. The author, the illustrators and all the women mentioned in the book have South Asian heritage, it's refreshing to see everything being kept in the community!
A close friend of mine is South Asian, with family from both India and Sri Lanka, and she often communicates her frustration of the lack of representation of her community. And in particular how the women are viewed as feeble and timid.
Initial Thoughts
As soon as I unwrapped the book I noticed the bright colours on the cover and the inner cover filled with powerful descriptions.
Instinctive | Protector | Creative | Resilient | Savvy
The illustration on the contents page looks so crisp. I immediately recognised some of the women. Well, about 6...
Mindy Kaling - Actress (wrinkle of time)
Rupi Kaur - Poet
Farrah Storr - Editor of Cosmopolitan UK
Nadiya Hussain - Great British Bake Off
Jameela Jamil - Model/Presenter
M.I.A - Singer/Songwriter/Activist
In the introduction, the author Raj reiterated my friend's feelings, of how she feels the women she has descended from have been portrayed. I was excited to turn over the page because I had a strong feeling that if "I didn't know, I'd get to know!"
After Thoughts
I thought that the illustrations of each woman were so beautiful and complimented each piece. The art was honestly on a whole different level. I liked how each super girl mentioned was illustrated by someone different, giving a chance for various illustrators to get involved and the artist's names were written on each piece getting their credits. Also, I loved the mini-interviews with illustrators and that all their social media handles were included. This book for me is a continuous circle of what I call putting a sister on! From educating us about the past supergirls to shining the light on the current ones, to leading the way for the future ones. I liked that there was a variety of ages and that the locations of the women chosen ranged from being in the South Asian region to around the world.
Being only a 2 page spread I needed to go away and do research into the women I was not familiar with because I was left wanting to know more about them. But I learned a lot from this book. Sophia Duleep-Singh was an absolute rebel with a mighty cause, Noor Jahan "wore the trousers" in an era when women's only option was to wear skirts and Aanchal Malhotra is making sure historical events will never be forgotten. I found myself with each page turned in awe of these amazing women.
After reading the book I realised that it is, in fact, a children's book which now makes perfect sense and explains the word format. I can definitely see this being a regular bedtime book, with each day being dedicated to a different super girl. This book is also interactive, including activities to really drive home that the reader is also a super girl. I even saw space for the reader to draw a picture of themselves.
Based on the target audience this book couldn't be any better. It is beautiful, it is uplifting and all the proceeds from the sales are being donated to charities supporting women and children so definitely purchase one.