35 Posters for Children With Uplifting Messages of Support & Solidarity.

Over the past few days, children's book illustrators have been creating images featuring their beloved characters coupled with messages of love and support. Many of these images show their characters with a safety pin (#KidLitSafetyPin), others show the characters hugging (#HugsfromKidLit), but all are symbols to kids feeling vulnerable or being targeted with harassment that they are not alone -- that they are loved and valued. Moreover, these drawings, which the artists hope teachers and librarians will post in schools (you can click on any image below to open a printable version), send an important message to all students that now is the time to come together with friends and classmates to stand against any hateful speech or actions motivated by differences in gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, or ability.

Along with sharing these messages of love, hope, and solidarity with children, author Kate Messner also expressed the importance of taking the next step: "If this is something you plan to share with students, please also take time to talk about what it means to have someone's back when it comes to fighting bullying and bigotry. Wearing a safety pin (or putting up a poster) doesn't really help unless it's accompanied by a promise of action. Speaking up and standing beside people who are being targeted requires courage, commitment, and planning. Here's a resource [from the Southern Poverty Law Center] that I think is great for talking with middle grade kids and older."

With young children, picture books offer an excellent way to emphasize the importance of kindness and acceptance of others. And, of course, literature is also a powerful way to explore topics ranging from misogyny to bigotry to xenophobia with older children and teens, as well as a vehicle for encouraging discussion on how we can build a more just and inclusive society now and in the future. In the resource section below, you can find a variety of such reading recommendations for all ages.

We hope you will print the images below, share them, and let all of the kids in your community know: they can find safety, hope, and love in books and with you. Continue reading → Continue reading

50 Biographies about Inspiring Women for Older Teen & Adult Readers

When we share stories about famous women from history, adults in our community often comment that they’re amazed that they’ve never learned about these world-changing women. And, while people love the biographies we post for children and teens, many adults would also like to learn more about these inspiring women. To that end — just in time for the peak of summer vacation season — we've showcased 50 books for adult and older teen readers about incredible women of the past and present.

The stories of women from all walks of life — scientists and entertainers, writers and rebels, athletes and adventurers — show the remarkable and often unrecognized contributions that women have made to our world. Equally importantly, their determination to pursue their dreams is profoundly inspiring, a reminder that each of us can make our own contributions. Since A Mighty Girl's website does not have a book section for adult readers, you won't find these recommendations on our site; however, we've included links below to Amazon so you can order individual titles or learn more about each book.

And, if you're looking for reading recommendations for the children and teens in your life, we shared many of our favorite new and recent releases as part of our Summer Reading Series -- to learn more, visit our blog posts on picture books, early chapter books, books for tweens, and books for teens or browse our entire collection of over 2,500 girl-empowering titles. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's recommendations for books, toys, and activities to inspire a lifelong love of writing and storytelling in kids of all ages.

If there’s one thing anyone who spends time around young kids knows, it’s that they are born storytellers! Children’s vivid imaginations and lack of preconceptions make for wild, fascinating, unexpected stories, and during their toddler and preschool years, we encourage them to explore and elaborate on their inventions. And most kids are thrilled when they start learning to write — finally, they have the opportunity to make their vision permanent, and share their ideas whenever they please.

But as kids move through elementary school and beyond, it’s all too easy for them to lose their love of writing and storytelling. The scrutiny of teachers and peers can make kids doubt their ability to create a “good” story, and too often writing becomes a chore, rather than a pleasure.

Fortunately, that’s not the way things have to end! It is possible to kids to keep their love of telling a good story, and develop it into a lifelong passion — and for some, even a career. This blog post provides a selection of books, toys, and activities for all ages that will get your child’s creative writing juices flowing. And who knows? You might find your own fingers itching for paper and pen… Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's favorite new releases and old time favorites to keep her reading all summer long!

For teens, whose reading skills are solidly established, summer reading isn't about practice; it's about getting to read whatever you want! Teen readers have reached a level of maturity where few topics are off limits, and storylines and characters can be extremely deep and complex. Just like in the real world, heroes have flaws and sometimes there isn't even a resolution — but that just makes the books teens are reading more absorbing and more real.

To keep your teen reading this summer, we've put together a list of forty engrossing young adult novels starring girls and women. From fascinating fiction to intriguing biographies and memoirs, these books will grab your teen's interest until the final word. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's favorite new releases and old time favorites to keep her reading all summer long!

Even if your Mighty Girl is past the stage where reading is a brand-new skill, it's important for her to keep practicing over the summer! Tween readers are ready for increasingly complex books, from unique and original flights of fancy to realistic fiction that addresses some of the more difficult issues around us every day — and the longer length of middle grade books allows kids to become totally absorbed in a really fascinating story.

With that in mind, we've put together a list of forty books suitable for tween readers that will pique their curiosity, get them turning pages for hours, and keep them thinking long after the book is done! These books show middle readers that girls can be the star in a longer story, and explore how the courage, intelligence, and determination of the Mighty Girls in these books help them find their own version of happily every after.

For recommendations books for younger readers, check out the earlier blog posts in our Summer Reading Series: 40 Girl-Empowering Picture Books and 40 Mighty Girl Books for New Readers. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's Reading Series kicks off with 40 of our favorite girl-empowering picture books for young children.

With the school year done, plenty of parents are looking for reading material to keep their kids turning pages! Looking for high quality, high interest books during the summer months is a great way to build literacy skills and foster a lifelong love of reading, which makes this a great time to fill kids' shelves with girl-empowering titles starring smart, confident, and courageous girls and women!

To kick off the start of A Mighty Girl's Reading Series, this blog post features 40 favorite picture books that share fun and thoughtful stories about both fictional and real-life Mighty Girls. Our 5-part series will continue with basic chapter books for early readers to more complex titles for tweens and teens to a selection of recommended reads for adults. All of these selections will show readers, both young and old, the power and potential of girls and women — and inspire her on her own journey as a Mighty Girl! Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of books for children and teens about real-life female scientists who changed the world!

"Young girls need to see role models in whatever career they may choose, just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday. You can't be what you can't see." — Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space

When someone mentions scientists, chances are good that the face that pops into mind is male: perhaps a picture of Albert Einstein or Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or maybe a more generic man in a lab coat. However, even when women were largely shut out of science, there were still groundbreaking women making discoveries, conducting experiments, and publishing research! And while school curricula and popular culture are slowly expanding to include women beyond a few notable favorites such as Marie Curie and Jane Goodall, many people — young and old alike — still often find themselves struggling to name even a handful of female scientists.

Fortunately, with the increasing availability of great biographies for children and teens, we can show our girls that women in science make contributions every day! And, of course, these titles are just as important to share with boys because all kids need to know that science is for girls! With that in mind, we've showcased our favorite biographies of female scientists for children and teens. From primatology to physics, the expanses of space to the vast floor of the ocean, these women made their mark and changed the way we see the world... just like the budding Mighty Girl scientists of today will one day! Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of girl-empowering new releases for early spring for children, teens, and adults.

With spring has come a great batch of new Mighty Girl books! From picture books and young adult literature to parenting guides and biographies for adult readers, there have many excellent girl-empowering new releases over the past few weeks. In our new blog post, we've showcased 25 of our favorite newly released Mighty Girl titles. From intriguing biographies — for both kids and adults — to thoughtful realistic fiction to some remarkable flights of fancy, there's something here to please readers of all ages! Continue reading → Continue reading

Our favorite girl-empowering adventure stories to inspire your own Mighty Girl's adventures!

What adventures is your Mighty Girl planning this year? Will she bike to the park by herself, swim for the first time, or learn to ride a horse? Maybe she’s going on a trip with the Girl Scouts, or hiking in the woods near her house to find the perfect place to build her secret hideout. Or maybe her imagination will take her on even bigger adventures — into outer space, magic kingdoms, or realms of fantasy. One thing's for sure: an adventurous child's life will never be boring!

To inspire your Mighty Girl to celebrate her adventurous side,  we’re showcasing our favorite books featuring daring, courageous Mighty Girl characters on adventures of their own. These stories capture all the thrill and excitement of pushing yourself to do something unexpected and new. They might even inspire you to try a new adventure!

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A Mighty Girl's top picks of science, math, and programming toys for curious Mighty Girls from toddlers to teens.

Kids are full of curiosity about how the world works, so why not give them a way to better explore it? With a high-quality science kit or toy, kids can incorporate the wonder of the everyday world into their play. In fact, it's amazing how much they can learn that way!

In this blog post, you'll find our favorite science, math, and programming toys and kits for curious kids of all ages. Whether you know a would-be star-gazer, a budding biologist, or an eager young robotics specialist, there are options here that will fascinate them. And who knows? Play alongside them and you might just learn something new too.

For books starring girls and women who love science, check out our blog posts: Ignite Her Curiosity: 25 Books Starring Science-Loving Mighty Girls and Those Who Dared To Discover: 15 Women Scientists You Should Know. And, for more fun STEM-related toys and kits, visit our Science & Math Toy Collection.
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