Honoring Women Authors on International Women’s Day!
International Women’s Day is a time to recognize the accomplishments of women and raise awareness about discrimination that they face. You can do your part to honor women this month by reading women authors or reading books with powerful female characters. One of the best qualities of literature is that it allows us to experience the world through multiple lenses, and it is a powerful tool when attempting to emphasize with others. Encourage yourself to walk in women’s shoes, to see through their eyes. What can you learn from this experience? How can you empower women and #embraceequity?
To celebrate women authors and their allies, we interviewed members of JLG team to learn more about their favorite women authors and characters—expect some wild Q & A from these book worms!
Q: If you could pick one female character from any book to be stranded on an island with you, who would you pick?
A: My first thought when you posed this question was Laia of Serra from the An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir. When tragedy strikes her family, Laia takes on monumental risk to try to right the wrong; during the process, she discovers her profound strength and resilience. While Laia is faced with great danger, heart-rending choices, and the fate of the world, she is always thoughtful and carries the weight of her decisions and their consequences. Circumstances give her more responsibility than she ever expected, but she never loses her humanity.
Fun fact, JLG has so far selected all of Tahir’s books—the four in this series and the recent All My Rage, which won both the Printz Medal and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
—Amy Carr, Editorial Coordinator
Q: If you had to pick one female character from a book to go to an amusement park with, who would it be and why?
A: It’s always hard to pick “just one” character when there is a huge world of book characters that have accompanied me throughout life! Anne (with an E!) from Anne Shirley of Green Gables was the first character I thought of. I don’t care much for amusement parks (too hot, long lines, and a fickle stomach!), but Anne’s positive attitude and the way she creates her own fun makes her an ideal companion.
I imagine the utter joy on her face when she sees all the delights that the amusement park has to offer her, and how thrilled she would be to experience such marvels. She’d help us find an icy treat or shaded area to cool down in, make up stories while we waited in line, and help me to act bolder and braver.
Using my own “scope for imagination” about Anne encourages me to explore new experiences, places, and ideas— all on the safety of the written page. Anne taught me to focus on what I can do with what I have, rather than what I don’t have, and in my best moments I live up to her words of encouragement: “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”