March is Women’s History Month and there are so many books to help celebrate! Over the past five years, there have been so many amazing children’s books about influential women throughout history and around the world. From board books to chapter books, you can find books about women’s history for readers of all ages. Check out some of the best books that celebrate women’s history for each age group:
Feminist Baby by Loryn Brantz
This is a great introduction to the ideas of feminism for your youngest reader. Feminist Baby is smart, fearless, and won’t be silenced. She makes choices for herself about her clothing, what colors she likes, and just doing everyday baby things.
This Little Trailblazer by Joan Holub
Learn about 10 amazing women trailblazers throughout history in this book. It highlights women such as nurse Florence Nightengale, dancer Maria Tallchief, Olympian Wilma Rudolph, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotommayor.
Little Feminist from Mudpuppy
This set of 4 books highlights women who have made a difference throughout history. Each book focuses on women in a different area: artists, pioneers, activists, and leaders. These are great because it introduces famous women but keeps the text short: there’s only one sentence per page.
A is for Awesome by Eva Chen
This board book highlights 23 women (one for almost every letter of the alphabet) who have “changed the world.” This book covers women in all types of careers, including those in STEM fields, activists, trailblazers, artists, musicians, and athletes.
I Like Myself! By Karen Beaumont
Get this wonderful children’s book in board book form and celebrate all the things your child likes about themselves! This book features a little girl who likes herself inside and out. She blocks out negative messages from the world and embraces her messy hair and bad breath. It’s a great way to celebrate unapologetic self-love.
She Persisted series by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger
The first book in this series came out in 2017 and celebrates 13 American women who changed the world. The understated illustrations of the women drawn as young girls make the stories feel relatable to younger readers. There are two other titles in this series: She Persisted Around the World and She Persisted in Sports.
Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison
This book celebrates “bold women in Black history.” The illustrations are beautifully done. Readers in grades 2 through 5 will love reading the mini-biographies on women such as Sojourner Truth and Ruby Bridges. You can also check out Little Dreamers, which is about “visionary women around the world.”
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Young readers love this illustrated adaption of the best-selling nonfiction book about the Black women working behind the scenes at NASA during the Space Race. The book tells the stories of four women who worked as “human computers” and helped get astronauts into space, despite the discrimination they faced in the workplace because they were Black women in STEM.
Brave Girl by Michelle Markel
This book tells the story of Clara Lemlich, a Ukrainian immigrant living in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. Clara had to go to work at a young age, but that didn’t stop her from learning English and speaking up against unfair working conditions. In 1909, Clara led women to walk out of their factory jobs in protest for better labor conditions.
Shaking Things Up by Susan Hood
This is another collection of biographies of women who changed history, but it uniquely focuses on women who made a difference when they were young. The book highlights women such as Maya Lin, Ruby Bridges, and Malala Yousafzai, who all made a difference while they were still kids.
What Is the Women’s Rights Movement? by Deborah Hopkinson
Celebrate women’s history month with this entry into the popular “Who Was?” chapter book series. It highlights the American women’s rights movement from the American Revolution to present-day struggles for equality. It’s a great primer for older kids looking to get familiar with the history of the fight for women’s rights in America.
Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz
If your reader enjoyed some of the previous picture book biography collections, this is a great choice for more advanced readers. It highlights one American woman for each letter of the alphabet (except X). You’ll recognize some familiar faces from other popular women’s history children’s books, but this book also has some unique entries, including Carol Burnett, Wilma Mankiller, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Girls Survive series (various authors)
This is an awesome historical fiction series that transports readers into the past with stories of girls surviving difficult moments in history. The 20 books in this series cover a wide range of historical time periods, including the Civil War, World War II, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, the Trail of Tears, the 1918 flu pandemic, and many more.
Proud: Living My American Dream (Young Readers’ Edition) by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Ibtihaj Muhammad is an American Olympic fencer and she was also the first American to compete while wearing hijab. In her memoir, she tells the story of her life growing up as a Black Muslim in New Jersey and making her way in the sport of fencing, which is dominated by white, affluent athletes. This book is perfect for readers in grades 3-6.
My Family Divided by Dianne Guerrero
This is another memoir that’s been adapted for young readers. Dianne Guerrero is an American actress who grew up in Boston. When she was a teenager, she came home from school one day to find her parents had been taken by immigration authorities. They were deported to Colombia, while Dianne stayed behind in the only country she had ever known.
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