Girl Rising

January 2, 2017
Stone (Courage Has No Color) delivers a frank, hard-hitting exploration of why some 62 million girls worldwide don’t attend school, collaborating with the team behind the 2013 documentary Girl Rising, which spurred a global campaign devoted to creating educational opportunities for girls. As Stone discusses modern-day child slavery, child marriage, gender bias, and lack of access to schooling, profiles and photographs of the girls featured in the Girl Rising film mix with the stories of other girls from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere. The result is a vivid, heartrending portrait of resilience in the face of tremendous obstacles; a closing section details ways readers can take action. Ages 14–up. Agent: (for Stone), Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio; (for Girl Rising), Scott Waxman, Waxman Leavell Literary.

Starred review from December 1, 2016
Although unfortunate circumstances in developing countries prevent girls from getting educations, nevertheless they remain resilient. Sibert Medalist Stone begins by explaining how the documentary Girl Rising inspired a book that further amplifies and explores the heartbreaking and inspiring stories of girls around the globe who are advocating for access to and freedom of education. Collected from over 45 hours of raw video interview footage, direct quotes from women and girls unveil a distressing web of hardships for girls as young as 5 and the unjust factors that prevent them from bettering their lives: poverty, human trafficking, modern-day slavery, child marriage, and, perhaps the most prevalent, gender discrimination. Around the world, the book zooms in on the struggles of girls from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nepal, Peru, Sierra Leone, among other countries. Both portraits and documentary-style photographs are numerous, and infographic designs will appeal to younger readers. Stone's passionate, deliberate, and compelling narrative explores the culture of gender discrimination and induces a sense of urgency for a solution. The recounted interviews offer insight, candor, and emotion, sparing readers little.A moving account of hardships and triumphs that is bound to inspire future activists, this is a devastating but crucial read. (author's note, appendix, bibliography, source notes) (Nonfiction. 14 & up)

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December 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-This visually stunning companion piece to the 2013 film of the same name seeks to explain why 62 million girls worldwide do not go to school. Taking from the film the stories of nine girls who overcame the odds against them to achieve at least some degree of education, the book provides a more in-depth explanation of the barriers girls face and also many accounts that were not included in the final cut. This volume is also a call to arms, detailing not just why girls are prevented from going to school but also why it is critically important to their countries and the global economy that they be allowed to do so. The tone is persuasive, and a concluding section spotlights a number of activist success stories while also laying out ways in which readers can help. The appeal is primarily to the heartstrings. Much of the information is anecdotal, and gorgeous color photographs of the girls radiating determination and hope dominate almost every spread. Impressive back matter adds further heft, including an informative author's note explaining how Stone verified and supplemented the research of the film crews, an extensive bibliography, and complete source notes. Unfortunately, an oversimplification that implies global poverty stems from overpopulation ("There are more than twenty million victims of slavery today... Why? For one thing, there are more of us living on the planet than ever before") mars what is otherwise an exceptionally strong package. VERDICT This well-organized emotional plea would be a welcome addition in high schools with a community service or human rights focus.-Eileen Makoff, P.S. 90 Edna Cohen School, Brooklyn

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Much more than a companion volume to the 2013 semidocumentary of the same title, which portrayed nine girls around the globe overcoming daunting barriers to obtain an education, this vibrant book stands on its own as a source of inspiration. Going into greater detail than is possible in a cinematic format, the author tells the girls' backstories with empathy and grace; she also provides heartening updates and illuminates the context of the struggle. In 50 countries, education is not free, and in many of these, education for girls is viewed as, at best, inessential, at worst, anathema60 million girls receive limited or no schooling. Instead, they are required to work: in some of the cases described here, they're sold very young by their families as virtual slaves (restaveks in Haiti, kamlari in Nepal). Child marriage14 million cases yearly worldwiderepresents essentially the same script. The closing chapter is a call to activism, and close-up full-color photos of the girls profiled will let young readers connect even more. Some of the stories contained here are perhaps too strong for younger readers, although it was a seven-year-old girl in Toronto who came up with the notion of Pencil Mountain, which ships school supplies to Ethiopia. Readers may be moved to initiate projects of their own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)