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

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

Change Sings: a Children’s Anthem

We Are Water Protectors

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens

The Secret World of Hildegard

Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women

Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist

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

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

The Librarian’s Stories

Greta and the Giants

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

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

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

I Am Jazz

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

Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala

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

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Cicely Tyson

This Is Your Time

Amanda Gorman

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

Regina Persisted: an Untold Story

Players in Pigtails

Brown Girl, Brown Girl

The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale

Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage

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

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

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton

Sometimes People March

The Librarian of Basra

I Look Up To… Serena Williams

Stay Angry, Little Girl

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

Book cover of Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs

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

Book cover of We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander.

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

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

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

Keep Climbing, Girls

Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

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

Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

Megan Rapinoe

Jane Goodall

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

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

Turning Pages: My Life Story

Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color

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

Ho’onani: Hula Warrior

Mary Kom

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

Grandmother School

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

Rocket Says Speak Up!

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

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

My Little Golden Book About Betty White

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children

Rocket Says Clean Up!

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

The Legendary Miss Lena Horne

Malala’s Magic Pencil

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

Freedom Braids

Me… Jane

Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution

Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

Emmeline Pankhurst

Mae Among the Stars

Laverne Cox

Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar

Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace

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

Before She Was Harriet

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart

Marjory Saves the Everglades: The Story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Judy Led the Way

The Life of / La vida de Pura

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

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker

Maya’s Song

I Look Up To… Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

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

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

A Child Like You

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

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

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

A is for Activist

Jazz Age Josephine

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

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

Born to Run

Just Help!: How to Build a Better World

Walking in the city with Jane book cover.

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

The Girl Who Heard the Music

I am Helen Keller

Evonne Goolagong

Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

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

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

I Am Enough

Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights