Brave Like Me!

By Zulaikha Patel and illustrated by Nicci Martin (Pan Macmillan)

Brave Like Me! is based on the author Zulaikha Patel’s true story of being a scared young girl who finds her braveness through self-belief and later activism.

Ages 3-8

Zulaikha Patel is the child of mixed parents, a black mother and an Indian father. The book follows her first lesson in braveness, at school, where she finds herself picked on and discriminated against. She is too scared to do a speech at school but when her father sees how unhappy she is, he gives her a little family history lesson, explaining how she is the perfect combination of both her parents, and their parents. This gives her the sense of pride and self-belief she needs to go to school and give a great speech. I love this and I wonder how many families share the stories of their ancestors with their children? Because we don’t usually live with our grandparents and extended families, many family stories are lost.

The story continues later in life when Zuleikha famously challenges a school rule at her Pretoria school. Zulaikha was just 13 when she and her fellow classmates staged a silent protest against their school’s hair policy, which targeted and restricted how Black girls could wear their hair. Before this, Zulaikha had to move schools three times because her hair did not comply with the outdated code of conduct. Pretoria High’s teachers also prohibited the students from speaking their own local African languages in the classroom.

For Zulaikha this is about: “Fighting for every Black child in this country, because it’s time for our endless cries to be heard.” Her activism captured the world’s attention, and that one act of courage became recognised internationally, changing the school policy and also igniting the activist and human rights advocate within her.

This is a sweet yet quietly powerful book that packs a punch for your children in believing in themselves and their ability to change the world.

I love how the photo below, of a young thirteen-year old Zulaikha, with her arm raised and fist held, is echoed on the cover of the new book 🙂

Meet the author

Zulaikha Patel knows how to use her voice. From a young age she has seen herself as a black radical feminist, just by ‘living unapologetically in her female body.’ Today Patel has dedicated her life to social justice, working in the areas of anti-racism, decolonisation, youth empowerment, climate change, economics and Gender Based Violence. GBV. She is also author of the children’s titles, My Coily Crowny Hair and Brave Like Me! and an International Speaker, including speaking at TED, Oxford, and the UN’s Young Activists Summit.

She states that her mission is to empower the youth in post-apartheid South Africa. To this end, she co-founded Dare to Change, a non-profit focusing on children’s literacy whereby she establishes Library Corners in schools around the country with the aim to eliminate illiteracy.

She is also a council member on the Nala Feminist Collective, a multigenerational Pan-African feminist collective that advocates for the liberation of African women and girls through the African Young Women Beijing +25 Manifesto. She advocates for Demand 3 to end gender discrimination on the council.
Follow her on instagram here.