When it comes to women’s empowerment, sometimes you just need a role model to inspire your own — or your children’s — path forward.
March is Women’s History Month and National Reading Month, which means it’s the perfect time to curl up with your little one and read books about women’s achievements and contributions in music, politics, science, and more. By learning about these success, they’ll have an easier time envisioning their own.
Yes, more work needs to be done. There’s still a
Here are 13 children’s books that will inspire young readers, no matter their age, to advocate for themselves, stand up for women’s rights, and follow their dreams, whether that involves a pair of ballet shoes, a calculator, or a seat on the Supreme Court.
Credit: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
By Suzanne Slade, Illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison
As demonstrated in this biographical picture book, Katherine Johnson was a smart, determined young girl. She skipped first and fifth grade, and started college at just 15 years old. She also defied gender norms when she quit her teaching job and started working as a mathematician at a research center in Virginia. Eventually, she made history when she
Credit: Feiwel & Friends
By Eva Chen, Illustrated by Derek Desierto
Teach your toddler the alphabet and women’s history at the same time with Eva Chen’s book, A Is For Awesome! (Yes, B is for Beyoncé.) For each letter of the alphabet, your child will learn about a female powerhouse, like track star Flo-Jo, education activist Malala Yousafzai, or beauty extraordinaire Pat McGrath. At X, Y, and Z, you can also expect to read an uplifting message addressed directly to your own future trailblazer.
Credit: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
By Michelle Meadows, Illustrated by Ebony Glenn
Thanks to the four-line, rhyming stanzas, you’ll fall into a catchy rhythm as you read and flip through this book and learn about the life of
Credit: Bloomsbury USA
Gloria Takes a Stand: How Gloria Steinem Listened, Wrote, and Changed the World (4-8 Years)
By Jessica M. Rinker, Illustrated by Daria Peoples-Riley
Before she founded Ms. magazine with her friend Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Gloria Steinem was learning about government, traveling to India, and soon, writing stories for magazines and newspapers. Over and over again, she was told what to do (get married) and who to be (a teacher), but eventually, she defied the status quo and set her own path — one that will inspire many young girls today.
Credit: Penguin Young Readers Group
By Brad Meltzer, Illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos
As part of the Ordinary People Change the World series, this comic-style book tells the story of how
Credit: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
By Vashti Harrison
American musician
Credit: Roaring Brook Press
By Rachel Dougherty
When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, not many people knew it was built by a woman named Emily Roebling. But this book gives credit where due, telling the story of how Roebling took charge of construction when her husband, the chief engineer, got sick. She studied bridge engineering and rode across the finished bridge with a rooster in her lap when people claimed the bridge wasn’t strong enough. Simplified graphics accompany the story, explaining just how the 14-year project came to life.
Credit: Penguin Young Readers Group
By Chelsea Clinton, Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
Inspired by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s viral “She Persisted” moment, Chelsea Clinton shares stories about 13 American women who changed the world. Like Warren, they each decided to keep moving forward despite challenges — whether that meant organizing strikes, refusing to give up a seat on the bus, or going to an all-white elementary school in the South.
Credit: Candlewick Press
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Through poems and collage illustrations, you’ll learn about Fannie Lou Hamer, whom Malcolm X called, “the country’s number one freedom-fighting woman.” You’ll read about her life as a slave in Mississippi, the speech she gave at the 1964 Democratic National Convention calling for better representation for Black people in the Democratic party (to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s dismay), and her efforts to march alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and register new Black voters, despite the risk of police beatings.
Credit: Penguin Young Readers Group
By Deborah Hopkinson, Illustrated by Laurie A. Conley
This book is a primer on women’s rights for young readers. It begins with the story of how Abigail Adams wrote to her husband about the possibility of a women-led rebellion. The book then goes on to cover the time when Susan B. Anthony broke the law by voting, as well as recent events, such as the creation of
Credit: Harper Collins
By Susan Hood
Susan Hood’s Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World is an artistic chronology of women leaders, spanning from the late 18th century all the way to 2014. Each of the 14 biographies, written as poems with accompanying short summaries at the bottom, is paired with its own woman illustrator, making the story both a thematically and visually diverse experience. Stories include that of investigative journalist Nellie Bly, Black female astronaut Mae Jemison, and even Molly Williams, the first known female firefighter in the United States.
Credit: Harper Collins
By Anika Aldamuy Denise, Illustrated by Paola Escobar
In Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré, Anika Aldamuy Denise highlights the life and legacy of
Credit: Penguin Random House
By Kate Schatz, Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
Kate Schatz’s
UPDATE: Mar. 3, 2023, 6:45 p.m. EST This article was updated and republished in March 2023.
UPDATE: Mar. 21, 2022, 1:00 p.m. EDT This article was originally published in March 2019. It was updated with additional books for young readers and republished in March 2022. Additional reporting by Chase DiBenedetto.