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

Me… Jane

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

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

Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace

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

Jazz Age Josephine

Regina Persisted: an Untold Story

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

I Look Up To… Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Stay Angry, Little Girl

Amanda Gorman

Maya’s Song

Marjory Saves the Everglades: The Story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

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

Keep Climbing, Girls

I Look Up To… Serena Williams

The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale

Ho’onani: Hula Warrior

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

Megan Rapinoe

Judy Led the Way

We Move the World

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth

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

Book cover of We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander.

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

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

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

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

A is for Activist

I am Helen Keller

We Are Water Protectors

Cicely Tyson

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

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

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

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

Born to Run

Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Coretta Scott

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

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

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

The Librarian of Basra

Sometimes People March

Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color

My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton

Book cover of Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World

Greta and the Giants

Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala

Evonne Goolagong

The Girl Who Heard the Music

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

Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Turning Pages: My Life Story

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

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

Change Sings: a Children’s Anthem

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

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

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

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

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Just Help!: How to Build a Better World

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

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

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

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

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

Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson

I Am Jazz

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon

The Life of / La vida de Pura

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

Mae Among the Stars

Be a Bridge

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

Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington

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

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

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

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens

The Story of Ruby Bridges

My Little Golden Book About Betty White

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

Before She Was Harriet

Players in Pigtails

Rocket Says Speak Up!

Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca

The Secret World of Hildegard

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

The Librarian’s Stories

A Child Like You

Laverne Cox

Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist

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

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children

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

I Am Enough

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart

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

Rocket Says Clean Up!

Freedom Braids

Emmeline Pankhurst

Grandmother School

Jane Goodall

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

Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage

Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea

On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker

Brown Girl, Brown Girl

Walking in the city with Jane book cover.