Even though the children’s book “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” has been one of the most popular books of 2017, parents are now raising concerns over the inclusion of Aung San Suu Kyi, and demanding removal of the chapter on her.
The collection of stories is about female role models such as Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, Serena Williams and others – aimed at inspiring young girls to confront the status quo.
In response to the parents’ demands, the authors of the book – Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo – are considering the removal of Suu Kyi from later editions and reprints.
“Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” is written by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo which was published in 2016. It was considered “most-funded original book in the history of crowdfunding"
Wiki Media CommonsWhen the book was written last year, Suu Kyi was regarded as a worthy subject because of her protests against her country’s junta through 21 years of house arrest, her persistence that led to her release, her Nobel peace prize win, and leadership, reports The Guardian.
But she fell from the ivory tower this year due to her passive role and response towards the violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, which was described by the UN as “possible genocide.”
On the book’s Facebook page, a parent, Lenka Uzakova, wrote: “As much as 99 per cent of book is inspiring, I found it absolutely disgusting that you have included someone suspected of genocide in the book. Aung San Suu Kyi has no place between those women. Someone who does nothing and perhaps is directly involved in massacres, rapes, burning of kids alive … I am speechless she is in the book.”
Another parent, Gerri Peev, wrote: “I bought this book for my three-year-old daughter as an antidote to the tyranny of ‘pink princess publishing’. It is filled with inspiring female role models who don’t rely on a prince to sort their lives out. I was dismayed to see this page effectively canonising Aung San Suu Kyi. I hope the publishers issue another edition, updating her fall from grace over the Rohingya massacre.”
In a statement the authors said: “We’re monitoring the situation closely and we don’t exclude the idea of removing her from future reprints.”
“Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” was first published in the US and is described as the “most-funded original book in the history of crowdfunding.”
In the face of massive international criticism, Aung San Suu Kyi was stripped of her Freedom of the City of Dublin award and her Freedom of Oxford accolade.
More than 655,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh since the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported that at least 6,700 Rohingya, including hundreds of children, were killed in the first month of the violence.
