Lola at the Library

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

As a final tribute in our celebration of Black History Month this year, we’re sharing ten of our favorite picture books featuring little Mighty Girls girls of color for the youngest readers. This is only a sampling of what’s available on the site; there are so many fabulous picture books for babies, preschoolers, and beyond with diverse protagonists that we couldn’t possibly highlight them all in one blog post!

It’s never too early to share a love of reading with little ones, and going to the library is one of the best ways to accomplish that goal! With Anna McQuinn’s book, Lola at the Library, your little one will learn to look forward to visiting the library just like Lola does. With bright, vibrant illustrations courtesy of Rosalind Beardshaw, this book is not only a delight to read, but a delight to look at as well.

Another book sure to be a hit with babies and toddlers is Rachel Isadora’s Peekaboo Morning. Every toddler loves to play peekaboo, and they’ll have such fun following the active and adorable protagonist of this story going through her morning, playing peekaboo with her mommy, her daddy, her puppy, and more! This is one of those books your child will want to read again and again. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

On this day in Mighty Girl history, acclaimed singer and civil rights pioneer Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia in 1897. Her musical talent was evident from a young age, and her parents did everything they could to encourage her musical pursuits. Anderson was only 6 when she began performing with the Union Baptist Church, where she was often referred to as “baby contralto”.

Her family was unable to afford piano lessons, so little Marian taught herself to play starting at the age of 8. Dedicated to her church choir, she would rehearse all of the parts to the every song, performing them for her family until they were just right. Her community was so impressed with her commitment that they raised enough money to pay for private lessons with a well-known vocal instructor. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern, and Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Nearly every child, girl and boy alike, loves to play with dolls in one of the many forms a doll can take. One child might prefer an action figure, or paper dolls, while another may choose a baby doll to care for and cuddle. Some children prefer a whole family of dolls to act out scenarios in a doll’s house, while others might like a doll designed to portray a favorite character, fictitious or historical. Regardless of what kind of doll a child likes best, one thing is certain: every child should have the opportunity to play with a doll that looks just like her.

And so, in this A Mighty Girl Spotlight post we’re highlighting dolls representing girls of African descent as part of our celebration of Black History Month. That said, there’s bound to be a doll in this list or in our main doll collection that would appeal to any Mighty Girl, from birth to adulthood, regardless of ethnicity! Continue reading → Continue reading

Today in A Mighty Girl history, Irena Sendler, one of the great, unsung heroes of the WWII who led a secret operation to successfully smuggle 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto, was born in 1910.

Sendler was a Polish Catholic nurse and social worker who began aiding Jews as early as 1939 after the Germans invaded Poland. At first, she helped to create false documents for over 3,000 Jewish families and later joined the Zegota, the underground Polish resistance organization created to aid the country's Jewish population.

In 1943, Sendler became head of Zegota's children's division and used her special access to the Warsaw Ghetto, granted to Social Welfare Department employees to conduct inspections for typhus, to set up a smuggling operation. She and her colleagues began secretly transporting babies and children out of the Ghetto by hiding them in an ambulance with a false bottom or in baskets, coffins, and even potato sacks. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

On this day in Mighty Girl history, Susan B. Anthony, one of the most well-known women in the battle for women’s suffrage in the U.S., was born in 1820. Although she did not live long enough to enjoy the right to vote, she was tireless in her dedication to the cause for over fifty years.

Born to a Quaker family in Massachusetts, Anthony was the second of seven children. All seven were raised to value equality and justice, and Anthony was no exception. She encountered many injustices as a young social activist, all of which paved the way for her work on women’s rights.

As a young adult, she worked as a teacher, earning one-quarter what her male counterparts were earning. Like most Quakers, Anthony and her family were against slavery and worked diligently against it. With the end of the Civil War and slavery, her dedication to women’s rights became her central focus. Continue reading → Continue reading

Author Ingrid Law

By Elizabeth Alarid, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

We are thrilled to launch our new blog series on "A Mighty Girl Creators" with our interview with Newbery Honoree Ingrid Law, author of Savvy and Scumble. Savvy, A Mighty Girl Top Pick book, is the story of 13 year old Mississippi "Mibs" Beaumont and her extraordinary family, all who possess a "savvy", a special ability akin to a super power, that can range from raising mountains to controlling the weather to hearing the thoughts of others.

A moving and hilarious coming of age tale, Savvy follows Mibs on a rollicking adventure aboard a bus as she grieves for her hospitalized father, has her first kiss, makes new friends, and transitions into her teenage years. Though Mibs discovers her savvy along the way, she comes to realize that each person has their own special strengths that make them exceptional, even if it's a normal kind of special ability, like being caring, resilient, or nurturing. Filled with adventure, humor, and delightfully playful language, "Savvy" is a book that celebrates the strength, perseverance, and tolerance housed within each individual, magical or otherwise.

Savyy's author, Ingrid Law, is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have been placed on over 25 state reading lists, and have earned multiple awards, including a Newbery Honor citation, a Boston Globe - Horn Book honor, and the Lamplighter Award. Her work has received accolades from Publisher's Weekly, Oprah's reading list, the Today Show's Al Roker's Book Club for Kids, and Smithsonian. Ingrid lives in Colorado, where she writes full time and is currently working on her next novel. You can find her on her website and on Facebook. Continue reading → Continue reading

Image Credit: U.S. Postal Service

On this day in Mighty Girl history, we remember Rosa Parks who was commemorated on this stamp released today on what would have been her 100th birthday. Dubbed “the first lady of Civil Rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement” by the United States Congress, Parks is most often remembered for her refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama in December of 1955. This act of courage and defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the pivotal events in the US Civil Rights Movement.

This was not her first, nor would it be her last, contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, she had been a member and the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP for 12 years prior to the bus boycott. She also attended the Highlander Folk School, a social justice leadership training school, the summer before refusing to give up her bus seat.

Parks and her husband moved to Michigan shortly after the bus boycott as a result of losing their jobs. There, Parks was hired as receptionist for U.S. Representative John Conyers Detroit office, where she worked until she retired in 1988. Rosa Parks received many awards and accolades in her life, most notably the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Continue reading → Continue reading