I should precede this review with a disclaimer: I know this series is aimed at children. I’m not a child. Naturally, that means my review takes a slightly different perspective from the target audience. However, I have also been doing this long enough to include considerations of the target audience in my review and I’m familiar with children’s literature.

I adore the Rebel Girls and I wish this series had been around when I was a child. I am also very interested in sports, so you can perhaps imagine my excitement when I saw this issue announced.

The stories are short, to the point and cute. Yes, all the information could also be found on Wikipedia but the writing is selective, child-friendly and the illustrations are gorgeous anyway. I read this in PDF format and the PDF seemed very squished making the font narrow. It also has an impact on the illustrations so I am going to hope/assume this will be different in the print version, especially as I feel the narrow font would be more difficult to read for less experienced readers (such as children) or individuals with dyslexia.

At first sight, there is reasonable diversity in this book. We learn about well-known athletes and less famous but certainly not any less remarkable ones. The book includes many women of colour, members of the LGBTQ+ community and some Paralympic athletes. It talks about courage and overcoming barriers tied to one’s identity and standing in society. This is a fantastic start, but I could not help but feel the book could have done even more. There were mainly two things I noticed:

1) The selection is somewhat American-centric and focused on more contemporary times. Yes, there are athletes from all over the world, but the US are over-represented. If the book is mostly marketed in the US, this might be a conscious choice. I would have loved to see a wider selection of nationalities and more historical figures, like Alice Milliat, a Frenchwoman who fought for women’s right to compete on an international level and their eventual inclusion in the Olympic Games.

2) A striking absence of a Muslim athletes or specifically an athlete wearing a hijab is perhaps even worse. Coming out of four years of a Trump administration that would have hit the nerve. For example, check out Amaiya Zafar (boxing), Ibtihaj Muhammad (fencing), Amna Al Haddad (weightlifting), or Shirin Gerami (triathlon). There are so many more though and their stories show they are “Rebel Girls” in the truest spirit of this series!

Nonetheless, this book included a list of fantastic female athletes who all definitely deserved their spot in this volume that is another wonderful addition to the Rebel Girls series.

Rebel Girls Champions is the latest installment in the Rebel Girls series. It follows notable Olympics Champions in their respective fields. Most of the Champions writeups were interesting and we learned new facts but there were a couple that crossed a line that I didn't care to discuss with my 9 year old so I skipped those.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.

What I was hoping for: I am a big fan of the Rebel Girls series. I think these books are so important.

What I liked: I especially liked the stories of women like Ishita Malaviya, Lina and Sanna El Kott who did not win an Olympic medal but is still a great role model and achieved so much. And I loved the story of Michelle Kwan. I would have wished there were more Paralympics champions. The little personal encouragements, test and tricks at the end was really nice and is certainly a nice way to engage readers even more.

Conclusion: Another great installment in the Rebel Girls book series. A great gift for any young girl (or boy, thank can learn that there are great woman out there, too).

Book received for free through NetGalley

Like all the Rebel Girls book this is a great read. Thank you for putting them out.

Yet another wonderfully illustrated and informative Rebel Girls instillation of the series! A book to be enjoyed by all.

Once again... Rebel Girls never disappoints. Meet 25 athletes who have made HER-story by carving (and creating) their own paths in various fields of sports. From gymnastics, soccer, figure skating, tennis, basketball, and more... readers are inspired by the trials and triumphs of these 25 athletes. What an inspiration!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review.
While I’m not an avid sports fan, I enjoyed this. Sports is such a male dominated field, especially in terms of media coverage that isn’t sports centric, so I loved the focus on women from a variety of different backgrounds here. From big names like Michelle Kwan, Simone Biles, and Megan Rapinoe to lesser known names, I enjoyed these stories of women persevering in sports.

Twenty-seven female athletes are profiled in the newest entry in the “Rebel Girls” series. The writing style of each one-page profile is straightforward but friendly, referring to the person by her first name. Each person is illustrated with a full page digital graphic arts portrait, done in different styles of art and using a variety of colors, by a variety of artists. The athletes represent many different countries and ethnicities; some are famous including Lisa Leslie and Megan Rapinoe, others are not well known. ParaOlympic athletes are also included. Information on how some of these athletes did in the 2021 Olympic games is included, making this very timely. Because the profiles are brief, this is more of a browsing item than a report-writer’s resource. The book concludes with a page where the reader can write her own story, a brief quiz on what type of athlete the reader might be, list of illustrators, and advice on training.

My almost nine-year old daughter and I read this book together. She loved seeing some of her favorite athletes in the book (Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe especially!) and also learning about new-to-her athletes, too. I asked her what she thought other kids might like, and she said, “I think they will believe in themselves and what they can accomplish.” I enjoyed the variety in types of sports and learning one that aren’t necessarily the most popular, too. She gave it five stars!

I have listened to the podcast Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls since it first began streaming in 2018. This is a collections of new stories focusing on women in sports.

Each story is short, but covers a lot. We learn about the trials and difficulties these women have faced, the goals they work for, and their victories. Every story is also accompanied with a full page illustration of the subject of the story, each with a unique artist.

There was a decent spread of nationalities represented, although almost half of the stories were focused on US athletes. I get that the length restricted the number of stories that could be included, but I would have appreciated at least a couple more stories of Paralympic athletes.

This was an absolute delight to read, and has actually inspired me to go search out more of these women’s stories.

This was another fun book. We've enjoyed all the Rebel Girls books. This book had several athletes I knew, but also several I was unfamiliar with. These books have been great for my girls to listen to and read, as so many times known athletes are mostly male. Another well written, great book--especially for girls!

Once again i can only say i love the Rebel Girls books. Rebel Girls Champions features 25 women from different countries and different sports. As always the illustrations are georgeous and shows various styles. I love how up-to-date this book is because of this years Olympic Games in Tokyo and i wouldn't be surprised if this book inspired a few kids to be in future Olympic Games. The two stories i loved the most were Brigette Lacquette's (such a stunning illustration!) and Ishita Malaviya's.
Big thanks to Netgalley and Rebel Girls with providing me with a copy!

This was a really beautiful book, just like all the other books I read by 'Rebel Girls'. I really love the concepts and themes the rebel girls come up with. The design of the book is very eye-catching and engaging, including the cover of the book. What I love the most is the exercises at the end of the book, to actually implement what we've learned.

I'll recommend this book for children from kindergarten to middle school, and honestly, girls at any age should definitely pick this up. Parents of young children are also highly recommended this book. Please read these books to your children as bedtime stories.

Rebel Girls Champions features 25 inspirational stories of young female athletes coming from all over the world and from various social and racial backgrounds. Some of the athletes featured were familiar to most of us like Michelle Kwan (the U.S figure skater) and Serena Williams (the U.S tennis player) while there were some new and unfamiliar names such as Ishita Malaviya (India's first woman surfer) or twin sisters, Lina and Sanna El Kott Herlander (Swedish skyrunners). I have never heard or known some of these sports stated here like skyruning and bouldering until i read this book.

In a way, this book is a good introduction for me towards new and unfamiliar athletes and their field of sports coming from across the globe. The diversity of the athletes' demographic profiles are quite balanced, coming from all sorts of backgrounds. There are Caucasians, Africans, Asians, indigenous, LGBT and even disabled athletes. They may have come from all walks of life but their goals and passions in sports is the same that is to win, be the best in their fields, to challenge their barriers and challenges, overcoming their insecurities and to fight for the causes they believe in. Most importantly, they had determination,courage and drive to achieve all that. This is among the main messages promoted by this book, about fearless women who were not afraid to chase after their dreams and brought some changes into the society.

However, i wish that the book would include more representation of Muslim women athletes including those wearing a hijab just like the book features about Ibtihaj Muhammad,a renowned hijabi Muslim woman fencer in the foreword section of the book. I'd be interesting to know the struggles and challenges of Muslim women athletes. The book should add in more stories of women athletes pioneers in history who fought against gender discrimination and inequality, racial injustices and women's rights like the book did with the story of Alice Milliat, a French rower who fought for women's right to join the Olympic games. I found her story compelling and interesting when overcome rejection of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) by starting up with an organisation, The Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale (FSFI) and organized a one-day sporting events just for women in Europe!

Overall, to me this book is a satisfactory read and very inspiring. The other points i liked about this book are the additional activities provided at the end of the book like the quiz and suggestions of training exercises that we can try. I loved the colourful full page portraits of those athletes and their life mottos. Very inspiring. I loved how current and updated the athlete profiles are by also including a number of the women athletes from the recent 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan like Sunisa Lee and Simone Billes.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read the e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rebel girls champions is short story collection of 25 rebel girls. And this was Sports edition.

For the girls and boys who wants to do more, explore more in sports or any other field needs to read this. Reading this, it felt like 'yeah, i can do this too'. It'll cheer you up and those story will motivate you to the extend.

Thank you @netgally for providing me an ARC of this book.

This collection tells us the stories of 25 unstoppable women athletes. They are inspiring stories of girls who wanted to become athletes and they succeeded despite the difficulties and discriminations they faced.
It is written like a fairytale and it is perfect for young readers, Also, the stories accompany great illustrations.

This is the second smaller Rebel Girls book I have read and I really like it. It is much of the same style as the Good Night Stories books, but focused around a central theme, this one being sports.

I'm not interested in many sports and I don't follow them. So for me most of these names were unfamiliar. And I also noticed that a lot of them a younger than me. I'd like to say it didn't make me feel old, but the truth is that it did. And then I realised that doesn't matter, what does matter is that it illustrates that young women are getting more and more oppertunities long denied them. And I am here for it.

I don't know if being in this book means these women won't be in a future Good Night Stories (and I can't remember if any of them already has, I think a couple might). But I do view these smaller 25 people books as great supplements to the bigger books, they're told in the same way and the thematic focus makes it a very coherent reading experience.

We have to talk about the portraits, which I think are becoming one of my favourite things about this book series. And this is no exception. Showing all kinds of women and having been illustrated by many different artists, it lends itself well to a very inspirational book that covers many different sports and many different places. A great addition to the line.

Another fantastic title in the 'Rebel Girls' series; this is true to form with its format - different pages about different sports stars from both history and the modern day. They vary in age, ethnicity, experience but all are fantastic role models.

This book also has a sports quiz at the back too!

Rebel Girls Champions is the ideal book for any young girl who is interested in sports but is hesitant to participate due to their gender. The tales of all of these very brilliant and determined female athletes are really motivating, particularly for the younger generation. As an older female reader who has spent her entire around and participating in sports, despite the fact that I believe this book is targeted primarily at encouraging younger girls, I was nevertheless in amazement of all these women's accomplishments.
It covers everything from race to disability to sexuality, and it offers every little girl out there someone to relate to, which I believe is so essential in a book like this. I thoroughly loved this book, and I will be suggesting it to any young ladies I meet who are interested in sports.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me with an e-arc of this book.

“Rebel Girls Champions: 25 Tales of Unstoppable Athletes” celebrates women in sports, featuring the inspiring stories of 25 phenomenal, game-changing women athletes and their relentless drive for excellence, amazing resilience, and sportsmanship. This stunning collection showcases the most beloved stories from the award-winning, best-selling “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” series. Rebel Girls Champions features the most thrilling anecdotes from the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. The exciting, easy-to-read text is delightfully illustrated with colorful, attractive, full-page portraits designed by female artists from around the globe. This charming book proves that the impossible is always possible, if we give our very best efforts, holding nothing back. Determination, perseverance and hard work always win rewards in the long run. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from becoming an achiever and excelling in your field. Dedication and commitment will spur you on to reach new heights of excellence. You are a world-class winner in every way. You were born to excel. Use your platform for good and fight for causes you believe in. Take a firm stand for social justice and equality. Pave the way for a new generation of young athletes to succeed in sports and in life. Your talent and potential are limitless. The sky is the limit. Get out there and excel. You are a Rebel Girls Champion!