Girls Can Do Anything By Caryl Hart, Illustrated by Ali Pye (2018) – Hardcover
Recommended ages: 3 to 8
Reading Level: Lexile 551L
This is a delightful book to help inspire any little girl in your life. Every page is a celebration of girls and all of the unique ways that we can express ourselves and show our personalities.
Girls come in all different colors and sizes.
They delight and amaze us.
They’re full of surprises.
Girls can do anything they want to do.
And if YOU are a girl . . .
You can do these things too!
I was especially enamored with Ali Pye’s charming, bright and silly illustrations of a diverse group of girls just being themselves and having so much fun doing so, as evidenced on the cover illustration. The endpapers of the book feature fifteen real-life female pioneers.
Take-away message: It’s in the title, “Girls can do anything!” This book shatters gender norms on just about every page, as girls are depicted as “scruffy and muddy,” as being able to wear board shorts or dresses, or as construction workers and airline pilots. It’s a must-have for any little girl’s library.
TAGS: female empowerment, female lead, diverse characters, hardcover
About the Author:
Caryl Hart is an award-winning, full-time children’s author based in Derbyshire. SHe loves going for long walks, sitting in cafes, and running creative literacy workshops for schools and libraries. She lives on the top of windy hill in the Peak District with her guitar-playing husband, two cheeky daughters, and one fluffy black cat.
About the Illustrator:
Ali Pye wanted to be an illustrator ever since she was a little girl, so she used to draw stories and stick the pages together to make little books. She started her professional career as a copy editor but soon went back to school to become an illustrator. Now that she’s a full-time illustrator based in London, she feels very lucky to have a job that she loves.
