A Mighty Girl's top picks of children's books about female Olympians, from gymnastics greats to soccer stars!

With the Tokyo Olympic Games about to begin, Mighty Girls around the world will be looking on — and dreaming of standing on the podium to claim their own gold medal one day! A century ago, only 65 women competed in the Olympics, making up only 2.5% of Olympic athletes; at this year's Tokyo 2020 summer games, almost 49% of competitors are women, setting a new record for women's participation at the Olympics. It's never been a more exciting time for women in sports or for girls who dream of going to the Olympics someday. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

It’s played by 250 million people in over 200 countries, and in many nations, it’s the most prominent women’s team sport. Women’s soccer games have been recorded since the late 19th century, and today, 177 nations have national women’s soccer teams. Best of all, the future looks bright for women’s soccer: girls’ soccer leagues continue to thrive, with gender representation among youth soccer players almost exactly 50-50. With such an incredible love of the Beautiful Game out there, it’s no wonder that many Mighty Girls have been eagerly awaiting the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup!

To celebrate this event — and the love of girls and women everywhere for the sport — we’ve collected some of our favorite books, toys, posters, and clothes celebrating the great game of soccer. We hope that these resources will have your Mighty Girl dreaming of her favorite game long after the World Cup is won.

In addition to our recommendations below, there's also a guidebook to everything going on during the 2015 Women's World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015: The Official Book. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

Summer is here! It’s time to get outside and enjoy the long hours of sunshine! There are so many ways to explore the outdoors with the Mighty Girls in your life, and in this post we recommend a few of our favorite outdoor toys, games, and gear to consider for your adventures. If you'd like to discover more options beyond our recommendations below, you can also visit A Mighty Girl's extensive Outdoor Play section to learn about a wide range of excellent toys and games for children and teens.

INDEPENDENT ACTIVE PLAY

When it’s time to graduate from a ride-on to a two-wheeler, instead of using the typical training wheels, many studies — and more importantly, parents — agree that the best way for a child to learn to ride her own bike is by first mastering balancing. If your child can run, she is ready to try her own balance running bike with the Strider PREbike! She’ll be whizzing up and down the sidewalk in no time, and developing both pre-bicycling skills and confidence, too!

For more wheel-based fun, check out this cherry blossom skateboard from Punisher Skateboards. All that time on her balancing bike will come in handy as she weaves her way around obstacles and over bumps. This board is 31 inches long, made of Canadian Maple, and is sure to delight girls 6 and older. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

April has arrived, and with it, baseball and softball season! Both iconic and poetic, few games have captivated the American public year after year with the same level of passion and devotion. While baseball has, unfortunately, remained a male-dominated sport in the professional realm, its steadfast allure has earned it a place in the heart of many a Mighty Girl, young and old alike.

For that reason, we have pulled together a list of some of our favorite books, toys, clothes, and more for the baseball and softball lover in your life. Whether watching her favorite team on TV or at the ballpark, learning about women’s roles in the history of baseball and softball, tossing a ball around in her own backyard, or playing on a real live team, if you know a Mighty Girl with an interest in America’s pastime, there’s sure to be something for her here!

WOMEN IN BASEBALL HISTORY

While girls and women have always been interested in the game of baseball (Vassar College boasts an all-girl’s baseball team as early as 1866, only 9 years after the first national baseball association was formed) their ability to play at a professional level was limited to only 12 seasons. From 1943 - 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was home to more than 600 women athletes who played for 15 different teams throughout the midwestern United States. Many books have been published discussing the history of the AAGPBL, several of which you can find in our baseball and softball section.

For a survey of the AAGPBL and an introduction to some of the players therein, readers 10 and up will enjoy Sue Macy’s A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. In it, Macy addresses many of the societal issues the young women of the time were forced to deal with in order to play ball, as well as the economic issues of running a baseball league.

A well-known and equally-loved movie, Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own tells the story of the AAGPBL through the eyes of a pair of sisters who play for the Rockford Peaches. Starring Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Tom Hanks, this film is recommended for ages 9 and up. Continue reading → Continue reading

Today in Mighty Girl history, we mark the birthday of American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Considered by many to be the best all-around female athlete in the world and voted by Sports Illustrated for Women as the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, Ms. Joyner-Kersee’s story is one of determination and drive in pursuit of excellence.

Born Jacqueline Joyner in 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois, to a family of limited means and resources, her path to fame and success was not always a given. However, named after then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Joyner family lore says that a grandmother predicted, “Some day this girl will be the first lady of something.”

Forbidden to date until the age of 18, Jackie and her brother, Al (a star athlete in his own right), focused their time and energy on sports at the local community center, and then high school. In addition to academics, she excelled at track, basketball, and volleyball, and ended up receiving a full basketball scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles. Before long, however, with strong encouragement from assistant coach (and future spouse) Bob Kersee, she switched her athletic focus to training for the Olympics, and specifically for the heptathlon. Continue reading → Continue reading

This week marks the anniversary of amazing feats by three trailblazing women. On July 5, 1916, sisters Augusta and Adeline Van Buren set off on an incredible journey and began the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour across the U.S. by two women on solo motorcycles. They rode 5,500 miles in 60 days often over unpaved roads while traveling from NYC to Tijuana, Mexico.

The entrance of the U.S. into WWI inspired the sisters' feat as they sought to prove that women could ride as well as men and were capable of serving as military dispatch riders. The women dressed in military-style leggings and leather riding breeches which were taboo at that time for women and, as a result, they were arrested several times along the way for wearing men's clothing. Yet, these two inspirational trailblazers were undaunted. As Augusta famously once stated, “Woman can if she will.” Continue reading → Continue reading

Even for non-sports fans it would have been hard to miss the excitement around Baylor's women basketball team victory over Notre Dame last week. With this victory, the Baylor women not only won the national championship but became the first N.C.A.A. basketball - in either the women's or men's divisions... Continue reading