Go girl: A storybook of epic New Zealand women

First there was the hugely successful Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls. And now we have our very own version, a book of stories about 100 New Zealand women, all trailblazers who achieved extraordinary things.

Just as in Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls these are true stories but read like fairy tales. And alongside each one there is an enchanting full page illustration.

The women came from all over New Zealand, from both town and country and lived during different times in our history. Amongst them were Maori leaders, politicians, doctors, artists, sportswomen, environmentalists, a shipwreck hero and a spy.

Every girl in New Zealand should read Kate Sheppard the suffragist’s story. In 1893 nearly 32,000 women and men signed the women’s suffrage petition. There were 547 sheets of signatures.

“Kate glued all the pages together. She wound them up around a broom-handle and sent it to parliament. It was carried into the Debating Chamber and tossed so that it unrolled down the long central aisle – it hit the end wall with a thud!

That very year New Zealand became the first country in the world where all the women could vote.”

It would be impossible to fit all that Helen Clark has achieved into one short story. Instead there is a quirky little tale about an old suitcase which she would not throw out showing that she was a waste not and no nonsense kind of person.

How old do you have to be to start your journey to becoming a hero? Not very old at all!

Some girls showed their competitive spirit from a very early age. Paraplegic swimmer Sophie Pascoe, the New Zealand flag bearer at the Commonwealth Games , had only just started school when she won the five year olds’ race ahead of all the kids who had 2 legs.

Lydia Ko started to play golf with a shortened pair of clubs when she was just five.

Karen Walker’s illustrious career as a fashion designer started with a Barbie, her Grandmother, a square of fabric and a seven year old girl who thought: I’m up for this.

Others kept up the good fight until they were very old like Whina Cooper, the Maori Leader and Activist who even in her last years called for our nation to be united. She died back in her beloved Hokianga when she was 98.

Six female New Zealand illustrators were commissioned to create the full page portraits to accompany each story and their wonderful artwork greatly adds to the pleasure when reading this book.

Phoebe Morris has drawn a powerful portrait of the shipwreck hero Huria Matenga dressed in a Maori cloak.

Rebecca Ter Borg shows Lorde performing under a starry sky. There is a romantic wildness about this image with Lorde’s  long hair flying around her expressive face.

Sarah Laing drew Margaret Mahy against a background of colourful flowers. She has an irrepressible grin on her face, is carrying a large broomstick and looks poised to create another magical story.

Mahy won so many prizes all over the world that Barbara Else writes that ‘the list is so long it would never fit onto one page , unless the print was so small that even a mouse would have to squint.’

As a Grandparent it felt especially good to have known and met some of these women. So when my granddaughters read these stories I will be able to share some of those memories, and be able to elaborate further and have some great conversations with them.

The aim of this book is to inspire girls of all ages, whether seven, seventeen or older. And I am sure it will. Realistically not every girl is going to be famous but they can become a hero as Barbara Else writes:

‘She might stun the world: she might make only a few people happy. She might keep her bravery to herself. True heroes just want to do their best at whatever it happens to be.’

Title: Go Girls: A Storybook of Epic New Zealand Women. Author: Barbara Else. Imprint Puffin. RRP: $45

Reviews by Lyn Potter. Read more by Lyn here.