*In an exclusive interview with New York Times best-selling author Linsey Davis, we delved into the inspiration behind her latest book, “Girls of the World: Doing More Than Ever Before.”
With inspiring, motivating rhymes and whimsical illustrations by bestselling artist Lucy Fleming, Davis sheds light on the extraordinary achievements of young girls across the globe.
Written by Davis, together with co-author Michael Tyler, “Girls of the World encourages children to use their voices, talents and intelligence to help the world and raise awareness of girls and all the amazing things they do! An inspiration for readers of all ages, Girls of the World: Doing More Than Ever Before calls attention to the truth that it’s never too soon to become aware of and speak up about things that are important to you. Now is the perfect time for girls to show the world just who they are and what they’re capable of,” per the press release.
The book fosters courage, strength, and curiosity in young girls, empowering them to confidently explore their place in the world.
In our exclusive interview with Davis, she elaborates on her aspirations for the book’s influence on young readers, particularly girls.
Are there any specific experiences or insights from your career that influenced the creation of this book?
Linsey Davis: Right in this particular moment, I think that it’s the perfect timing as we just were reporting on Super Tuesday yesterday and President’s Day just a few weeks ago. When you look at the current climate in our country, when you see that in our nearly 250 year history, we’ve never had a female as president. We’re so far behind. We consider ourselves to be such an advanced country, but there are so many other countries who have already had females as prime ministers or as president. When you look at the Fortune 500 companies, only 10% have female CEOs. There just seems to be something, that glass ceiling is still in place for some reason. I have to say that my parents, I really would attribute them with instilling in me early on, a belief in myself. So I was either silly enough or smart enough to believe that I could do whatever I put my mind to.
I feel that kind of positivity, that kind of affirmation, that kind of reinforcement, is something that I think all little girls should learn at a really early age. It’s never too early to plant those seeds of belief and know what’s possible and to dream even bigger dreams and to know who you are, but also what you’re capable of.
How do you hope Girls of the World will inspire conversations between parents, educators, and children about the importance of girls’ contributions to society?
I think it’s just as important for the boys and the men in our lives to realize we’re equal players. I think that that’s something that, quite often, we’ve been counted out. If you look at how often people will say, “Oh, you throw like a girl,” which is a negative, obviously. Or “Boys will be boys,” which is considered like, oh, well, any kind of behavior is okay for boys. I think that that’s something that we really need to be mindful of, is just the kinds of boxes that we tend to put boys in and the separation and the expectations. I think there are often lower expectations, and I notice it with my son, who’s about to be 10 this month, who he will say, “Oh, that’s for girls. I don’t want to do that.” And I think that that’s something that I’m starting on my own with saying, “No, wait, wait, wait. No, we’re not doing that here.”
It’s something that I think we dismiss quite often. We think that there are certain gender norms and certain societal expectations. When does it stop? I mean, I think that we all have to say enough at some point.
This is your six children’s book, in what ways do you think children’s literature can contribute to promoting gender equality and empowerment?
I think that we don’t necessarily just want to see and talk about, it’s the illustrations and how girls are depicted, and it’s the words that we use. It was very intentional for me to use words like “We are brave,” “We are strong,” “We are bold,” “We are capable,” “We are ambitious.” Brave and, strong, courageous are words that often are not associated with girls. We typically associate that with boys, with men. Often, even when those girls grow up to become young women, they can be too ambitious. They can be too bossy. So those are things that we often don’t say about men. We don’t say, “Oh, that man is too ambitious, he’s too bossy.” Women will be depicted as micromanagers. You have these things that become negative in excess when it’s applied to a woman. You don’t have that same kind of thing when it’s applied to a man.
So I feel like I have to give a shout-out to the illustrator, Lucy Fleming, who’s been working with me for all six books. It’s been so important in our conversations for me, that any little girl who opens up the pages of the books is going to be able to see someone that they can relate to, see a character, and say, “That looks like me. She looks like me.” I think that that is so important with regard to not just race but also with religion. We have two girls who are in wheelchairs, we have one girl with a prosthetic leg. We’re just bringing everyone into the tent, so to speak. Even on the cover, we have one girl who’s an astronaut, we have a girl who’s an engineer.
We have all these different occupations. When we think about profession, we might often be limited when we think about what girls do when they grow up and become women. What kinds of jobs and occupations do they go into? So I’m hoping that even the subliminal message, before you even open any page of the book, you’re going to see the cover and you’re going to see that those young girls who are aspiring to have any profession that they desire. That is something that I think is quite often problematic in that we put certain limits and ceilings on our girls from the very beginning.
The book features inspiring and motivating rhymes. How do you believe the rhymes will resonate with children and encourage them to embrace their potential?
I always believe that whatever you do, it’s really important to look at the people who you think are the best to ever do it. I remember reading a book by Dr.Jay, and he was saying he had broken his leg, and so he started just watching videotape for maybe a year, of how the best basketball players were doing it at that time. He was trying to emulate and visualize that for himself. When thinking about writing children’s books, I turned to, who do I revere? Who did I love growing up? Shel Silverstein was one of my favorites (and) Dr. Seuss. Both of them rhymed, and subsequently, putting on my reporter hat, I’ve found that kids learn how to read more easily when they’re reading books that rhyme. All six of my books have a rhyme scheme that should help.
I think it’s not only fun and whimsical, but there’s value added there. It’s educational because it’s helping young kids to read. Of course, our target audience is under eight years old, eight and under. I think that this is such a formative time. It’s really one of my favorite things since the book was released. I gave it to a colleague, and she gave it to her little daughter, and she videotaped her just stopping at “We Are brave. We are brave.” She made it a little mantra before she could even flip the page. I think that we kept the words very simple, very basic, but they’re fun. They rhyme. I think that subliminally, hopefully, that’s going to get into their psyche, that idea of we are brave.
I hope that that is just really obvious for the reader. When you talk about empathy, I think that people are going to, on their face, think that this is just for girls. But I think that it’s just as important for boys. If they’re going to be partners, they’re going to be the ones in the room in many cases, as we have right now, and are structured quite often, that have men who are at the highest heights, you need some empathy in order to say, “Hey, we’re going to bring some variety in here. We’re going to try something else. We’re not going to just do business as usual with regard to just using men.”
“Girls of the World: Doing More Than Ever Before” is now available at bookstores, or purchase it on Amazon.
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