From Inquisitr:
Sensational feminist fairytales authored by two women, who suffered sexist abuse, has now outsold Harry Potter in the U.K., the homeland of author J.K. Rowling.
Feminist fairytales Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls self-published by authors Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, who were laughed at and endured sexist jokes in meetings, feature 100 bedtime stories about amazing and powerful women.
While the list of Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls includes such iconic figures as Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, and Malala Yousafzai (and even Hillary Clinton), there’s a new volume that will tell the mesmerizing stories of Beyoncé and J.K. Rowling in the works.
After years of sexist remarks and jibes from investors, the two women decided to self-publish the 100 feminist fairytales, which went on to become a huge hit.
The Daily Mail reports that Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls has become a major success both in the U.K. and around the world after the project became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history.
. . . .
In April 2016, Favilli and Cavallo launched their Kickstarter campaign and, much to everyone’s surprise, raised over $1 million and had plenty of people talking about it.
Link to the rest at Inquisitr
I’m a proud owner of this book in hardcover. I’m reading it to my two boys at bedtime. Each woman gets a page for text and a full page illustration, which is perfect for bedtime because you can commit to as many as you have time for before lights out.
It really is worth the price. I’ve searched Amazon and Barnes and Noble for a “great people of history” book for kids that features an equal number of men and women and unfortunately it does not exist. We own tons of books on men. So I bought this for my boys for some perspective.
Not to mention it’s a beautiful and very nicely produced book. My boys (ages 6 and 9) love it. It’s completely rereadable. I’ll be keeping it for my grandkids.
Highly recommend. Get one now, because when I ordered mine they ran out and I had to wait.
A children’s book celebrating the achievements of real-life heroes should not be dismissed in this age of violent video games and comic book re-hashes.
The fact that it focuses on the accomplishments of women, many of whom have been little-recognized by the authors of history, endows this book with an importance that supersedes typical fairy tales – especially when so many female characters in those tales are depicted as helpless and needing rescue by a man.
The U.S. price of $35 for the hardback is a pittance when compared to the impact it can have on the self-confidence of a young girl growing up amidst the rampant bullying (by both children and adults) dominating our culture and our airwaves these days.
I salute the authors for their vision and their determination to succeed. Their story is one of inspiration itself, and I hope their efforts spur more girls to be “rebels” and follow their dreams to be whatever and whomever they want to be.
You femsplained that beautifully, thanks.
Thanks Roh.
i hope someday that females and males too can be full and wide and deep in their talents without having to be a rebel, an outlier, or thought defective.
That to me would be a true humanism under which is the entire land of feminism would also be manifest in the best ways– my .02
Cleopatra and Elizabeth I I understand, but Beyonce and Hillary Clinton? Hillary’s big achievement is that she isn’t modeling an orange pantsuit … yet. There are plenty of strong female role models in history (Catherine the Great and Joan of Arc come to mind) without including pop culture figures of dubious value.
There was a whole series of Uppity Women of [time period] books by Vicki León in the ’90s published by Red Wheel/Weiser. I had several (destroyed in the great storage locker flood) and gave copies as gifts to my ladyfriends. A quick check of Amazon shows that they seem to be more or less out of print now, and no ebook edition.
I might rebuild my collection from used/remaindered copies on Amazon if I can find one vendor with several titles that charges shipping by order rather than by item.
I still have one… somewhere in my 3K books worth of chaos upstairs. Uppity Women of Ancient Greece. 😀
I’ve never heard of this series. It looks like it could be fun, with more breadth than the “Bad Girls” week I saw once on A&E’s Biography show. I like to use biographies as jumping off points to learn about historical eras.
$20 for the Kindle version. I think not.
Ow! No, thanks, I’ll just wait for the price to drop, or get it in paper for Red 2.0 when she’s old enough.
+1
And I would have paid a ‘reasonable’ price ($5 or less, or equal in pounds sterling).
Agreed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kindle book for that price, aside from college texts.
Dang, I was hoping they’d be actual feminist retellings of fairy tales, not stories about real people.
Still, good for them. That’s a win for indie authors, I think.
My thoughts exactly! 🙂
Have you read the Virago Books of Fairytales by Angela Carter? All the stories are about women, collected the world over.
I thnk they are out of print now, but if you can find copies they are worth a read.
Interesting article. I note that what it actually says is that the book is outselling Harry Potter right now.
Considering how long it has been since any “Potter” has been published, that is not particularly a grand accomplishment (one among hundreds of books, I am sure).
But – more power to them. They have found a way to cash in on their “victimhood.” Capitalism at its best…
You mansplained that beautifully, thanks.
+1 Anon
They made an extraordinary claim. Nothing wrong with examining an extraordinary claim.
Checking Amazon.co.uk as a proxy:
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
Hardcover RRP £17.99 Amazon Price £9.00
#4 in Books
Paperback (not applicable)
Kindle £9.99
#5479 in Paid Kindle Store
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Hardcover RRP £14.99 Amazon Price £9.00
#50 in Books
Paperback RRP £7.99 Amazon Price £3.85
#206 in Books
Kindle £5.99
#10 in Paid Kindle Store
Our proxy suggests Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is outselling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the UK in hardcover. That is the claim in the article with one additional narrowing of terms. Impressive. Well done to them. The additional narrowing of terms is important, however. Knowing only relative rankings and not actual sales numbers, it is impossible to say which book is outselling the other for all formats combined. (I left out audiobooks, but Harry Potter has one, Good Night Stories does not.)
As to “victimhood” and “manslaining”, the OP — not written by Favilli and Cavallo — states in an aside, “fueled by stories of Favilli and Cavallo facing sexist abuse in their attempts to publish the book,” presumably refering to the book’s popularity and not the feminist fairytales themselves. Why include that throwaway, unsupported statement but not include “in hardcover” as a clarification of “outselling”. As an editor, I would strike out the “fueled by” aside, and pencil in “in hardcover”.
Press coverage of adverse experiences trying to publish the book may have raised awareness of the book. It might also be selling well because it’s a very good book. I don’t know. I haven’t read it.
I have no doubt Favilli and Cavallo experienced sexist abuse while trying to publish the book. People are posterior orifices. However, the existence and behaviour of some bad eggs doesn’t mean there was no chance of a more traditional publishing arrangement. As I mention in my post below, books very like Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls have been published before by traditional publishers. Look at the Also Bought section for Good Night Stories.
That’s sexist. I’m triggered.
+2 for the mansplain
+3 for mansplaining (presuming OC is male). My immediate thought was quite similar: good for them, but sounds like something I’d skip.