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NEA Advice

Diverse Books with Trailblazing Women 

In these selected titles you’ll find authors, artists, and architects; rulers and rebels; athletes and astronauts; musicians; mothers of invention; and many, many more famous and influential women. 
collage of title of books for women's history month
By: National Education Association
Published: March 1, 2024
This resource originally appeared on NEA.org

Find more recommendations in our extended list of women’s history titles available at your local library through World Cat. 

PICTURE BOOKS AND ELEMENTARY 

Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste 

Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell 

The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung 

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Lesa Cline-Ransome 

Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth: Educator, Feminist, and Anti-Lynching Civil Rights Leader by Michelle Duster 

Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter by Aida Salazar 

Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker 

Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai 

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre / Sembrando historias: Pura Belpré: bibliotecaria y narradora de cuentos by Anika Aldamuy Denise 

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating

The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid by Jeanette Winter 

MIDDLE GRADE 

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming 

Born Just Right by Jordan Reeves and Jen Lee Reeves 

The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson 

The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement by Teri Kanefield 

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman 

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell 

Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers / Latinitas: Una celebración de 40 soñadoras audaces by Juliet Menéndez 

Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! by Marley Dias 

This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy 

Susie King Taylor: Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter by Erica Armstrong Dunbar & Candace Buford. 

YOUNG ADULT 

Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson 

Breakthrough: Katalin Karikó and the mRNA Vaccine by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson 

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu 

Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich by Annie Boochever with Roy Peratrovich Jr.  

The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist by Margarita Engle 

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Adapted for Young People by Brandy Colbert and Jeanne Theoharis 

Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner 

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott 

Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi 

Women Heroes of World War II: 32 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue by Kathryn J. Atwood 

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