Rebel Girls Celebrate Neurodiversity: 25 Tales of Creative Thinkers

by Rebel Girls

TRUE STORIES OF NEURODIVERGENT ICONS

This collection features 25 inspiring tales of neurodivergent artists, athletes, innovators, and more. Read about how these women and girls thought creatively, achieved their dreams, and advocated for the rights of neurodivergent people everywhere.

Walk the runway with Madeline Stuart, the first professional model with Down syndrome. Steal the scene with Salma Hayek, the award-winning actor with dyslexia. Learn how journalist and TV host Lisa Ling thrives with ADD, and how Temple Grandin’s autism has opened up new and compassionate ways of interacting with animals.

This book pairs inspiring, easy-to-read text with colorful full-page portraits created by female and nonbinary artists from all around the world. Plus, scannable codes let you listen to longer stories on the Rebel Girls app!

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

64 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Rebel Girls is a global, multi-platform edutainment brand dedicated to inspiring and instilling confidence in a generation of girls around the world through content, products, and experiences.

Reviews

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This group of women includes people from the arts (actors, musicians, authors), athletes, models, scientists, activists, influencers, scientists, and and a medical doctor. Each of these women have achieved distinction in their field while also being neurodivergent.

Each woman has a full-sized drawing depicting her as well as a full-page bio facing the illustration. Here are the women who are featured:

Amanda Gorman
Billie Eilish
Brenna Clark
Camilla Pang
Chamique Holdsclaw
Daria Saville
ASme Weijun Want
Fahima Abdulrahman
Greta Thunberg
Jillian Gallays
Jiya Rai
Julia Bascom
Keisha Castle-Hughes
Lisa Ling
Madeline Stuart
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Onyinye Udokporo
Paige Layle
Poleth Mendes
Salma Hayek
Sarai Pahla
Serina HAsegawa
Seina Castellon
Susan Te Kahurangi King
Temple Gradin

Young readers can learn a lot about accepting and celebrating those who see the world differently. The young readers might be neurodivergent or neurotypical. In either case, all can learn about the strength that our society gains by broadening our view of what kinds of people can contribute meaningfully to society.

[Brooke - TheBrookeList · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read quite a few anthologies of great people, which can be really fun, but they can also be rather long and tedious. This is anything but. The author does a great job of keeping the stories about each of these creative thinkers concise and interesting. It's inspiring to see how much each of the ladies have accomplished, then see how each of them thrive with their neurodivergent differences. The stigma of neurodivergence can be a thing of the past, as we work to think about how these unique traits can be "different, not less." This book feels approachable and relatable, with a good number of the stories drawing on younger women as well.

Read as a nomination in the nonfiction book award category as a panelist for Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (Cybils Awards).

[★·.·⍣·.·★.· 𝔐𝔞𝔩𝔦 𝔄𝔫𝔫 ★·.·⍣·.·★.· · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my Amazon Alexa, I immediately added it to my wish list and ordered it, it came the next day (yesterday) and I was very excitable to read it, I’m neurodivergent myself, so I thought this one would be interesting.
I managed to fully read and enjoy the book today, and it was amazing! There were loads of people I haven’t heard about before, and they had achieved amazing things!
I think that Rebel Girls is such a nice series, it’s so nice to see how there is lots of diversity in these books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

REBEL GIRLS CELEBRATE NEURODIVERSITY is an inspiring ode to the achievements and acceptance of neurodivergent icons with illustrations by female and neurodivergent artists around the globe. Though they had obstacles to overcome, they learned to embrace and love themselves for who they are; advocating for their unique characteristics to encourage others to do the same. A great read for any young reader!

[Mackenzie Virginia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad these books exist–they're accessible, introduce readers to people they may not have heard of, and and cover a diverse group every time. But there just really isn't much to them. The profiles read very similarly, and most are cursory and have little greater context. Some are little more than wikipedia summaries (a feeling heightened by attempts to learn more on one's own) and a few don't even have an accurate birthdate for the person.