March is Women’s History Month, a month-long celebration of women’s unique and important contributions to American history. Here are a few notable titles for young readers that highlight some amazing people, events, and achievements.
Check out the Women’s History Month shelf on Cloud Library for more titles on this theme, or put a hold on these excellent titles today!
Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne
This Coretta Scott King Author Honor book tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement — when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle.
The Woman’s Hour (Adapted for Young Readers) by Elaine Weiss
Over the course of one boiling-hot summer, Nashville becomes a bitter battleground as suffragists face opposition from every side, including the “Antis”–women who don’t want women to have the right to vote. Both sides are willing to do anything it takes to win, and brave activists like Carrie Catt, Sue White, and Alice Paul will face dirty tricks, blackmail, and betrayal along the way.
RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford
Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father’s Detroit church where her soaring voice spanned more than three octaves. This authoritative, rhythmic, Coretta Scott King Illustration Award–winning picture book biography will captivate young readers with Aretha’s inspiring story. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!
A Is for Awesome! 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World by Eva Chen
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?
Instagram superstar Eva Chen back with an alphabet board book depicting feminist icons, featuring spirited illustrations by Derek Desierto.
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
This book tells the inspirational story of Mary Walker, a woman whose long life spanned from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, and who–with perseverance and dedication–proved that you’re never too old to learn. In 1848, Mary Walker was born into slavery. At age 15, she was freed, and by age 20, she was married and had her first child. By age 68, she had worked numerous jobs, including cooking, cleaning, babysitting, and selling sandwiches to raise money for her church. At 114, she was the last remaining member of her family. And at 116, she learned to read.
Visit womenshistorymonth.org for more information, historical audio and video, exhibits and collections, and more educational resources available through the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
