Books That Empower Girls
story time
good books for bigs and littles
Looking for a few inspirational books for the little lady in your life? Read on!
Two Smart Cookies
Rosie Revere Engineer and Ada Twist Scientist are both written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts. (p.s.-definitely check out Andrea Beaty’s Website for supercool FREE downloadable posters.) Both celebrate little girls with a bent for science and technology, and both overcome early failures to rise to eventual success. In Ada Twist Scientist, Ada initially suffers parental punishment for her messy science experiments, but all the silly grown-ups wisely come around. Meanwhile, after early embarrassments, Rosie Revere is inspired by her famous great aunt to consider her first flop at building a flying machine the first step on her path to the stars. Both books have cool, modish illustrations and both are written in rhyme, making both easy bedtime reads for smart little ladies and their tired, big parents.
Image from How Brave is The Wren
As You Are
I’m frequently awed by the wisdom of some of Dr. Seuss’s books—especially for the time in which he was writing—but he doesn’t often have a female character at the center of his stories. Gertrude McFuzz is one exception. Gertrude McFuzz is one story in the collection Yurtle the Turtle, also the title story. All of the stories in this collection are about the pitfalls of pride, but Gertrude McFuzz is specifically about the cost of pursuing appearance above all else. It’s got it all: envy, vanity, deceit. But the best part of this story, in my opinion, is that Gertrude comes to the conclusion that her appearance is perfect just the way it is…a great message for little girls to hear.
Fearlessness, Fortitude, and Friendship
There’s a reason the Madeline stories are classics, and I think at least one of those reasons is Madeline herself. Madeline is fearless, adventurous, and just. She looks out for her friends and for the downtrodden, all while traveling the globe. The fact that she’s little, and separated from her family, doesn’t stop her from advocating for others. I also love that these books are a way to show a child the world, all in Bemelmans’ spontaneous and now classic illustration style.
Image from The New Antiquarian blog
When Life Gives You Lemons
I’ve written about the book Rescue and Jessica before (you can read the post here), but it’s a pretty great story, and one that would be especially appropriate for a child going through a serious health issue. Rescue is a dog and personal assistant to Jessica, who is navigating a serious illness. Both the dog and the girl overcome many obstacles, eventually together, and the story is a great tale about resilience, but also about how a true friendship can ease suffering.
Do you have great book recommendations for girls or boys? Share them in the Comments section below.
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