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

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

Walking in the city with Jane book cover.

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

Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution

Ho’onani: Hula Warrior

I Am Jazz

Amanda Gorman

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

Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’ Journey from Slave to Artist

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens

A Child Like You

Stay Angry, Little Girl

The Life of / La vida de Pura

Rocket Says Speak Up!

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

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage

We Are Water Protectors

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart

My Little Golden Book About Dolly Parton

Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers

Laverne Cox

Megan Rapinoe

Greta and the Giants

The Librarian’s Stories

Regina Persisted: an Untold Story

I am Helen Keller

Nothing But Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

Jane Goodall

Book cover of Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World

Change Sings: a Children’s Anthem

Jazz Age Josephine

This Is Your Time

Be a Bridge

Turning Pages: My Life Story

I Look Up To… Ruth Bader Ginsburg

A is for Activist

Mae Among the Stars

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

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

Rocket Says Clean Up!

My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth

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

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

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

Keep Climbing, Girls

Maya’s Song

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

I Am Enough

Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

Malala’s Magic Pencil

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

We Move the World

Coretta Scott

Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca

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

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

Thanks to Frances Perkins: Fighter for Workers’ Rights

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

Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai

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

Cicely Tyson

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

The Story of Ruby Bridges

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

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker

Brown Girl, Brown Girl

Before She Was Harriet

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

Players in Pigtails

Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea

Judy Led the Way

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

I Look Up To… Serena Williams

Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color

Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson

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

Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar

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

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

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

Freedom Braids

The Secret World of Hildegard

Me… Jane

Grandmother School

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

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

Emmeline Pankhurst

Mary Kom

Sometimes People March

On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison

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

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

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

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

My Little Golden Book About Betty White

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

Kate Sheppard: Leading the Way for Women

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

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

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

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

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

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

Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace

Book cover of We Want Our Books by Jake Alexander.

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

Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai

The Girl Who Heard the Music

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib’s Journey to Washington

Just Help!: How to Build a Better World

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

Born to Run

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

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs

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

Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children

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

The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon

Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Marjory Saves the Everglades: The Story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

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

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

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

The Legendary Miss Lena Horne

Evonne Goolagong

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

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