© Allison Black
Frances Gilbert has been a children’s book editor for 25 years but this is her first authored picture book. She was inspired by much of the gender inequity she’s seen in children’s books over the years to write a vehicles book for girls that put girls in the driver’s seat and let’s them know they don’t have to take a passenger seat to anyone.
“What would a cars and trucks book for girls look like?” a friend asked.
It was a great question, and it prompted more: Why are there so many children’s books about vehicles and yet so few girls in them? What happens to girls if they never see themselves in the driver’s seat? These were the questions that prompted me to write Go, Girls, Go!, a picture book about vehicles where girls are in charge.
when I looked up, commercial pilots were male, professional motorsports hadn’t been opened up by female drivers, the moon landing celebrated “man” and “mankind”
I was a girly-girl as a kid. (Still am, to be honest.) I loved pink and Barbies and kittens. (Still do, to be honest.) But I also played with vehicles. Not like my brother, who would drive GI Joe’s tanks over my dolls, but with my Barbie’s yellow camper van and a safari playset that had a jaunty jeep. Vehicles were a part of my childhood play. And yet, when I looked up, commercial pilots were male, professional motorsports hadn’t been opened up by female drivers, the moon landing celebrated “man” and “mankind”, and books or TV shows with anthropomorphised vehicles often differentiated the token girl characters with eyelashes and lipstick. What did that tell girls about who was driving their lives?
© Allison Black
I started writing Go, Girls, Go! more as an academic exercise: “What would this look like?” I’d been a children’s book editor for over 20 years. I was curious. The phrase “Go, girls, go!” popped into my head, and I got stuck in. The text—a noisy, sound-filled, action-packed rallying cry, where girls drive ambulances, tractors, space shuttles, trains, and many other big, fast machines—came easily and excitedly. Then, once satisfied it could be done, I put it away and forgot about it.
That’s when it struck me: I’d been flying by that point almost monthly for about thirty years and had never seen an all-female crew.
A year later, I was flying to Reykjavik from New York on Iceland Air and noticed the pilots boarding were women, as were the flight attendants. That’s when it struck me: I’d been flying by that point almost monthly for about thirty years and had never seen an all-female crew. Despite the advances women have made in aviation, space exploration, motorsports, and other careers, this was too rare a sight. That’s when I decided Go, Girls, Go! needed to be published.
Special homages are hidden throughout: The bi-plane pilot is Bessie, after pioneering black aviator Bessie Coleman, and the girl behind the controls of the commercial airplane wears a hijab, to honour to the female pilots who broke barriers on Emirates airlines.
And so it is! Young readers will get to see Emma driving a fire engine (“Vroom!”), Ella revving a tow truck (“Whirr!”), Sarah piloting a tugboat (“Toot!”), and Rachel swinging her giant crane (“Bang!”). Special homages are hidden throughout: The bi-plane pilot is Bessie, after pioneering black aviator Bessie Coleman, and the girl behind the controls of the commercial airplane wears a hijab, to honour to the female pilots who broke barriers on Emirates airlines.
It’s a noisy book. I want children to shout out the sound words and the gleeful refrain “Go, girls, go!” I want them to dream about which vehicle they’d like to drive the most. I want them to imagine—with no thought of limitation whatsoever—where they’d like to go in life. Girls AND boys! Let us imagine a world where no child feels barriers associated with their gender. Go, kids, go!
Go, Girls, Go!, by Frances Gilbert (@GoGirlsGoBooks), illustrated by Allison Black (@allisonblackillustration), is published by Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 978-1-5344-2482-1) and available wherever books are sold.