12 Inspiring Picture Books to Celebrate Women’s History
March is Women’s History Month, a great time to celebrate women’s achievements and contributions throughout history. Women like Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor; paleontologist Sue Hendrickson; Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel into space and more. All of these women are an inspiration to little girls and boys across America.
Both you and your kids will enjoy reading about these amazing women. These 12 picture books celebrate the amazing accomplishments women have made in politics, science, the arts, and more.
Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free AudiobooksKids’ Books That Celebrate Women’s History
Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors
In the 1830s, when a brave and curious girl named Elizabeth Blackwell was growing up, women were supposed to be wives and mothers. Some women could be teachers or seamstresses, but career options were few. Certainly, no women were doctors.
But Elizabeth refused to accept the common beliefs that women weren’t smart enough to be doctors, or that they were too weak for such hard work. And she would not take no for an answer. This inspiring story of the first female doctor shows how one strong-willed woman opened the doors for all the female doctors to come.
Age Recommendation: 5 and up
A Computer Called Katherine
The inspiring true story of mathematician Katherine Johnson who counted and computed her way to NASA and helped put a man on the moon! Katherine knew it was wrong that African Americans didn’t have the same rights as others. She knew it was wrong that people thought women could only be teachers or nurses. And she proved everyone wrong by zooming ahead of her classmates, starting college at fifteen, and eventually joining NASA, where her calculations helped pioneer America’s first manned flight into space, its first manned orbit of Earth, and the world’s first trip to the moon!
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
Just Like Beverly
As a young girl, Beverly Cleary struggled to learn to read and found most children’s books dull and uninteresting. She often wondered if there were any books about kids just like her. With hard work, and the encouragement of her parents and a special teacher, she learned to read and at a young age discovered she had a knack for writing.
Age Recommendation: 5 and up
In Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
An inspiring picture book biography of the storyteller, puppeteer, and New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, who championed bilingual literature.
When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share their tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin
When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet, the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
Shark Lady
Eugenie Clark fell in love with sharks from the first moment she saw them at the aquarium. She couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than studying these graceful creatures. But Eugenie quickly discovered that many people believed sharks to be ugly and scary―and they didn’t think women should be scientists.
Determined to prove them wrong, Eugenie devoted her life to learning about sharks. After earning several college degrees and making countless discoveries, Eugenie wrote herself into the history of science, earning the nickname “Shark Lady.” Through her accomplishments, she taught the world that sharks were to be admired rather than feared and that women can do anything they set their minds to.
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
When Sue Found Sue
From a very young age, Sue Hendrickson was meant to find things: lost coins, perfume bottles, and even hidden treasure. Her endless curiosity eventually led to her career in diving and paleontology, where she would continue to find things big and small. In 1990, at a dig in South Dakota, Sue made her biggest discovery to date: Sue the T. rex, the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton ever unearthed. Named in Sue’s honor, Sue the T. rex would be placed on permanent exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. When Sue Found Sue inspires readers to take a closer look at the world around them and to never lose their brave, adventurous spirits.
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
Mae Among The Stars
When Little Mae was a child, she dreamed of dancing in space. She imagined herself surrounded by billions of stars, floating, gliding, and discovering. She wanted to be an astronaut. Her mom told her, “If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible.”
Little Mae’s curiosity, intelligence, and determination, matched with her parents encouraging words, paved the way for her incredible success at NASA as the first African American woman to travel in space.
Age Recommendation: 3 and up
The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps
Jane Goodall is a great observer of chimpanzees. Follow Jane from her childhood in London watching a robin on her windowsill to her years in the African forests of Gombe, Tanzania, invited by brilliant scientist Louis Leakey to observe chimps, to her worldwide crusade to save these primates who are now in danger of extinction and their habitat. Young animal lovers and Winter’s many fans will welcome this fascinating and moving portrait of an extraordinary person and the animals to whom she has dedicated her life.
Age Recommendation: 3 and up
Malala’s Magic Pencil
As a child in Pakistan, Malala wished for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, and to sleep an extra hour in the morning. But as she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for. She saw a world that needed fixing. And even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realized that she could still work hard every day to make her wishes come true.
Age Recommendation: 3 and up
Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World
In this book of poems, you will find Mary Anning, who was just thirteen when she unearthed a prehistoric fossil. You’ll meet Ruby Bridges, the brave six-year-old who helped end segregation in the South. And Maya Lin, who at twenty-one won a competition to create a war memorial, and then had to appear before Congress to defend her right to create. And more…
Age Recommendation: 4 and up
A is For Awesome: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World
Why stick with plain old A, B, C when you can have Amelia (Earhart), Malala, Tina (Turner), Ruth (Bader Ginsburg), all the way to eXtraordinary You―and the Zillion of adventures you will go on?
Age Recommendation: 1 and up
