BANA AL-ABED: LITTLE ADVOCATE, HUGE INSPIRATION

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bana_al-Abed

If you give a seven-year-old a phone, they’ll most likely going to play Candy Crush. Bana, however, utilized the power of Twitter to raise awareness about the effects of the ongoing Syrian Civil War. In 2016, with the help of her mother, she tweeted a series of posts from Aleppo that documented the harrowing sieging of the city. Those tweets broke the hearts of people around the world. Now twelve years old, Bana continues to advocate for her fellow Syrians and uses her platform to draw global awareness to the horrors taking place in her homeland.

“You must do something for the children of Syria because they are like your children and deserve peace like you.”

—Bana al-Abed

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

SONITA ALIZADEH: SINGING TO SAVE LIVES

https://mobile.twitter.com/sonitaalizadeh

Sonita is an Afghan activist against forced and child marriages. As a child, Sonita was almost married twice—once when she was ten years old, and again when she was sixteen. To gain attention about forced marriages, she released a video called “Brides for Sale.” This was a huge risk—she was living in Iran at the time, where, by law, women are not allowed to sing in public. Despite this, her song became a viral hit, and she received a scholarship that gave her the opportunity to study in the United States. She continues to perform music and inspire young women to stop conforming to restrictive, outdated traditions.

“Everyone is important—both world leaders and everyday people. I hope that together we can create the biggest campaign in the world to end child marriage.”

—Sonita Alizadeh

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

GRETA THUNBERG: LET’S HELP HER SAVE THE PLANET

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg

Greta Thunberg, a young girl from Sweden, has received international acclaim for her powerful climate change activism. At fifteen, she began speaking out on the importance of immediate action to slow climate change when, using school time to protest outside the Swedish Parliament. She and other students organized a movement called Fridays for Future, which involved organized school climate strikes. She has demanded that the government take steps to reduce carbon emissions, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, and gave a speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit that initiated her rise to fame. She has been featured in Forbes and TIME Magazine, and has inspired over 20,000 students in over 270 cities to hold climate strikes as well.

“I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic… to act as if our house is on fire.”

—Greta Thunberg

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

VICTORIA PANNELL: WALKED OUT SO OTHERS DON’T HAVE TO RUN

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/victoria-pannell

Victoria is a seventeen-year-old activist from Harlem, New York. At sixteen, she organized the #NationalSchoolWalkout to protest gun violence in schools. On Friday, April 20th, 2018, Victoria inspired hundreds of thousands of students in every state in America to walk out of their classrooms. After her protest, Victoria became the youngest person to sit on Manhattan’s Community Board. She also started another nonprofit called Tools for Change, an organization that facilitates youth success by offering such services as mental health counseling and strategies for money management. Victoria also has a history of protesting child sex trafficking, even giving a TED Talk on the subject in 2016 at a San Diego TEDxYouth event.

“People think it’s an ‘over there’ issue, and it’s not, it’s happening right here in the United States.”

—Victoria Pannell

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

ANOYARA KHATUN: SAVING CHILDREN, CHANGING THE WORLD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoyara_Khatun

Anoyara comes from a family of little means in West Bengal. When she was just five years old, she also lost her father. When she turned twelve, her family’s financial circumstances compelled her mother to listen to the advice of a distant relative, who suggested sending her to a family who could take care of her and give her an education. However, Anoyara and her mother had been deceived—she became a victim of child trafficking and was forced to work as domestic help in Delhi instead. There, she was abused, kept in terrible conditions, and unable to contact her family until she was rescued by the organization Save the Children. When she returned home and saw how many children were suffering that same way, she became an avid children’s rights activist. She has fought against exploitation and child marriage, and has helped rescue hundreds more children. Her efforts led to her becoming one of the youngest recipients of the Nari Shakti Award.

“Children will have wings, won’t be afraid of anything and are able to reach to the skies.”

—Anoyara Khatun

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

CASSANDRA LIN: FEEL THE HEAT

https://chinapost.nownews.com/20180918-422185

In fifth grade, Cassandra Lin learned that many people in her town
could not afford heat. She also discovered that cooking oil could serve
as biofuel. With this new knowledge, she reach out to local restaurants and asked them to donate their leftover cooking oil to her so she could recycle it. As her initiative grew into Project Turn Grease Into Fuel (or TGIF), Cassandra started to move outside her community and collect from restaurants in other nearby areas. Every gallon of grease the program receives is turned into biodiesel to help economically stressed families.

“Youth voice is the key to securing the future of our planet.”

—Cassandra Lin

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

MARY GRACE HENRY: A SMALL STEP TO HUGE CHANGE

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/mary-grace-henry

Mary is a young seamstress who decided to use her passion as an opportunity to enact positive change in the world. She created and sold reversible headbands at her school’s bookstore, with the intention of donating all of the profits to underprivileged girls. She wanted to improve the lives of these girls by helping them finance their education, and she has been extremely successful in doing so. What started as a small school project has bloomed into Reverse the Course, a charity that has sold thousands of hairpieces and sent over one hundred girls to school in countries like Uganda, Haiti, and Paraguay.

“When you see a need, act. Dream big but start small taking little steps.”

—Mary Grace Henry

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

JULIA BLUHM: YOUNG FEMINIST WITH A BIG VOICE

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/meet-julia-bluhm-feminist-media-activist-flna873652

As part of the body positivity movement, Julia Bluhm is altering the ways bodies are shown in popular media. She is changing the beauty landscape one magazine at a time—when she was fourteen, she petitioned the editor- in-chief of the popular Seventeen magazine to feature more realistic models in their issues. Because of her candor, they eliminated photoshopping and began displaying authentic, healthy bodies. Julia continues her body image activism as a blogger, encouraging other young girls to hold brands accountable on body inclusivity.

“…teenagers offer a lot. A lot of times, people think of teenagers as not caring, and that’s a big mistake.”

—Julia Bluhm

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

LILY MADIGAN: A CHAMPION FOR TRANS RIGHTS

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lily-madigan-21-under-21-2018

Nineteen-year-old Lily Madigan made her mark in British politics when she became the first transgender teenager to hold a position in the Labour Party. The party faced some backlash, with many people arguing that a trans woman—especially a teenager—shouldn’t be allowed the role of officer. Lily had gained some attention for her queer activism prior to this, after taking her school to court for demanding that she wear boys’ clothes, denying her use of female restrooms, and refusing to use her chosen name. She won her case and received an apology from the school, and has continued to stay strong even when confronted with copious amounts of online transphobia. She fights for trans rights and hopes to one day become the first transgender member of Parliament—until then, she is continuing to make history in other ways.

“Your words have the power to hurt, to heal, to inspire, or discourage. Remember that.”

—Lily Madigan

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

DAISY BATES: SPEAKING FOR THE SILENCED

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bates_(activist)

Daisy grew up in a small sawmill town of Arkansas called Huttig in a shotgun house with her biological mother and father. In a horrible turn of events, her mother was raped and murdered by three local white men, and the case was never solved due to lack of devotion to the case. After her mother’s death, Bates was then handed off to be raised by family friends and she never saw her biological father. As one could imagine, the death of her mother and the events that followed impacted her for life, even though they occurred early in her childhood. Because Daisy had to confront the existence of racism very early in life, it drove her to become a lifelong activist.

“No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies.”

—Daisy Bates

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.