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

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

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

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

Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai

I am Helen Keller

On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

The Girl Who Heard the Music

This Is Your Time

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

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

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

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Regina Persisted: an Untold Story

Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color

Sometimes People March

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth

Book cover of We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander.

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

Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace

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

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children

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

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

Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca

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

Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala

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

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

I Look Up To… Serena Williams

We Move the World

Walking in the city with Jane book cover.

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

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

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

Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe

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

Judy Led the Way

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

Jane Goodall

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon

Before She Was Harriet

The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale

Turning Pages: My Life Story

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

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

Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar

Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

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

Maya’s Song

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

Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

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

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

Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington

Rocket Says Speak Up!

Change Sings: a Children’s Anthem

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

Born to Run

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

Players in Pigtails

The Life of / La vida de Pura

Greta and the Giants

Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights

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

The Librarian of Basra

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

Brown Girl, Brown Girl

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

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

Just Help!: How to Build a Better World

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

Laverne Cox

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

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

Mary Kom

Jazz Age Josephine

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

Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

The Secret World of Hildegard

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

Freedom Braids

A Child Like You

Rocket Says Clean Up!

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

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

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

Emmeline Pankhurst

Grandmother School

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

Megan Rapinoe

Mae Among the Stars

Amanda Gorman

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea

Book cover of Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World

I Am Jazz

Me… Jane

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker

A is for Activist

Marjory Saves the Everglades: The Story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

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

Coretta Scott

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers

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

I Am Enough

Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson

Evonne Goolagong

Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens

We Are Water Protectors

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

Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

Be a Bridge

Cicely Tyson

Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Stay Angry, Little Girl

Ho’onani: Hula Warrior

Keep Climbing, Girls

I Look Up To… Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Legendary Miss Lena Horne

Malala’s Magic Pencil