International Women’s Day 2025 - Storytime Solidarity

Whether you focus on the UN’s message, or that of IWD, the focus is on women’s equality and empowerment.

Whether they are what would be called an activist, a trailblazer, a rebel – all the women and girls featured in the books below, fought – or are fighting – for rights and / or causes.

That right could be them pursuing their own career goals.

Or, it could be saving the planet.

It could be escaping from slavery.

Or marching in a civil rights protest.

And anything in between.

~ Anne.

Because of the subject matter of many of these books, they aren’t all suitable for preschoolers.

However, they are important to have on our radar, and may be good for school visits.

Equal rights. Equal opportunities. Equal power.

UN Women: For All Women And Girls. Rights.. Equality. Empowerment. United Nations Commemoration of the 50th International Women's Day. The image is of a young woman / teenage girl, dressed in blue with a cap on, with her arms resting on top of a handle of something like a shovel. She seems to be from SouthEast Asia, India for example.

From the UN’s website:

On International Women’s Day (8 March), that is the bold call for action for all women and girls worldwide. As we mark the 30th year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world is deeply unequal. International Women’s Day is a chance to rise and demand action and to deliver on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to make the world equal and better for everyone.

#ForAllWomenAndGirls.

#AccelerateAction

Happy International Women's Day - with a purple background. Surrounding the words are four circles with illustrations of a woman in each. The women are multicultural, with some in hijab, and some with afros.

From the International Women’s Day website:

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge gender equality. Collectively for #IWD2025 we can all #AccelerateAction.

International Women’s Day (IWD) has been around for over a hundred years, as have many of the issues still impacting women’s advancement. Since 1911, IWD belongs to all who care about women’s equality. Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness about discrimination. Take action to forge gender parity. All IWD activity is valid, that’s what makes IWD so inclusive.

All International Women’s Day 2025

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909

Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar

The Librarian of Basra

Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa

Ho’onani: Hula Warrior

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Walking in the city with Jane book cover.

Walking in the City with Jane: A Story of Jane Jacobs

Fighting for YES!: The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann

The Legendary Miss Lena Horne

Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace

Players in Pigtails

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

I Am Enough

Malala’s Magic Pencil

Brown Girl, Brown Girl

One Girl’s Voice: How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land

Megan Rapinoe

The Life of / La vida de Pura

The Librarian’s Stories

Traveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion

Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La juez que creció en el Bronx

Sing, Aretha, Sing: Aretha Franklin,”Respect,” and the Civil Rights Movement

Amanda Gorman

Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini’s Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer

Who Says Women Can’t Be Computer Programmers?: The Story of Ada Lovelace

We Want to go to School: The Fight for Disability Rights

Emmeline Pankhurst

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart

Virginia Wouldn’t Slow Down!: The Unstoppable Dr. Apgar and Her Life-Saving Invention

Evonne Goolagong

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth

Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell

Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson

The Secret World of Hildegard

Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

Bird Girl: Gene Stratton-Porter Shares Her Love of Nature with the World

Girls with Guts!: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records

Book cover of We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander.

We Want Our Books: Rosa’s Fight to Save the Library

Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller

Jazz Age Josephine

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

Rocket Says Clean Up!

I am Helen Keller

Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color

Laverne Cox

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington

Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement

Sometimes People March

Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Regina Persisted: an Untold Story

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker

Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala

Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

Butterflies Belong Here: A Story of One Idea, Thirty Kids, and a World of Butterflies

Greta and the Giants

I Look Up To… Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children

Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist

We Are Water Protectors

I Look Up To… Serena Williams

Turning Pages: My Life Story

Mae Among the Stars

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers: The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds

Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth

Maya’s Song

Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet

Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist

Grandmother School

Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Coretta Scott

On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison

The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne

Born to Run

Cicely Tyson

Jane Goodall

The Girl Who Heard the Music

You Need to Chill!: A trans pride and acceptance children’s book

Be a Bridge

Me… Jane

Before She Was Harriet

Marjory Saves the Everglades: The Story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Keep Climbing, Girls

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song

Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

Change Sings: a Children’s Anthem

Just Help!: How to Build a Better World

A is for Activist

Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights

A Child Like You

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers

I Am Jazz

This Is Your Time

We Move the World

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

Stay Angry, Little Girl

My Little Golden Book About Betty White

Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca

The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale

Light in the Darkness: A Story about How Slaves Learned in Secret

Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You

Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King

All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul

Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote

Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage

Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll

Freedom Braids

Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea

How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine

Judy Led the Way

Book cover of Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.