Girl Power! Local teacher and artist campaign to fund kids’ books

Monday 04 March 2019

Disappointed by the lack of positive role models for young girls in children’s literature, a local primary school teacher and artist have teamed up to launch a new series of Jersey-based books which champion ‘girl power.'

In an attempt to diversify the way girls are presented in children’s books, teachers Angela McKinlay and Kate Munrow, and local artist and designer Kaydia Torrell, are crowdfunding their new series ‘Adventure Stories for Dynamic Girls.'

With 23 years of teaching at primary schools under her belt, Angela has a unique insight into the importance of role models, and she said it was working at an all-girls’ school that first made her concerned about the way conventional gender roles are influencing the young girls she teaches.

Angela told Express of some students who, at nine-years-old, are worrying about their weight and, with the dominance of fictional characters and celebrities who embody a particularly ‘girly-girl’ aesthetic, she said she was keen to write a series which looked at girlhood from a different perspective.

Pictured: As well as celebrating girls of all sorts, the series also hopes to put Jersey front and centre (Illustration: Kaydia Torrell).

Angela said it was her frustration at, “...the lack of books around [with] positive role models for girls,” which made her decide to take matters into her own hands. Enlisting the help of her school friend Kate, who is an English teacher and examiner for adult learners based in Exeter, the two women co-authored three stories in the ‘Adventure Stories’ series. 

“We thought about linking it to girls that are being adventurous… I just felt like there were a lot of books around that were very sparkly and pink and they weren’t really reflecting what the girls I was teaching are actually doing at the moment,” Angela explained. 

The first of which revolves around the story of Sienna the surfer, a sporty Jersey girl who meets new friends who are on holiday in the island. 

The books are illustrated by Kaydia who said that it took a while to bring the characters to life without making the main characters “too girly” or “boyish” – “it’s finding somewhere in down the middle,” she remarked.

Pictured: The books set out to reflect activities that real girls do on a daily basis (Illustration: Kaydia Torrell).

For Kaydia, she said the whole series is about “broadening the horizon” for both girls and boys. “I think it’s good for boys to learn that everything’s open to girls as well and also vice versa,” she said.

Angela agreed, saying that although the series focuses on positive female role models, it will also benefit young boys as it doesn’t divide children’s potential according to their gender. “It’s about seeing [girls] as equal from a young age,” she said.

Now, the authors and illustrator behind the ‘Adventure Stories’ are hoping to raise £7,000 to bring their ‘girl power’ message to more young people, families and schools on a local and global level.

In order to grow the book series, which is aimed at Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 students, the women have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise more support for their project. 

“It’s not really about the money, it’s about getting lots of backing,” Angela said, with Kaydia adding that the campaign is also a way of “getting it out there” to raise some awareness about the issues their series hopes to tackle.