By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

In our blog Beloved Books: Twenty Mighty Girl Classics, we shared twenty Mighty Girl books from 1950 and earlier that have become favorites of multiple generations. Naturally, though, there are many equally wonderful stories that were written more recently! These are the books from the 1950s to the 1980s that many members of our community grew up reading — and are now beginning to pass on to their own Mighty Girls.

Although all classics remain popular because they break new ground, these modern classics show the changes to the way Western culture viewed girls and women. The Mighty Girls in these pages tackle difficult social issues, go on hitherto unimagined adventures, and dare to define themselves in daring ways. More diverse characters begin to fill their pages, as well, with more girls of color finally filling the roles of heroes instead of bystanders or companions. Most of all, the girls in these books are no longer portrayed as eccentrics for being daring, courageous, and smart: in fact, for these Mighty Girl authors, that’s just as expected!

So take a look at our list and see if your favorite Mighty Girl book from your own childhood is on here! One way or another, it’s sure to spur you to share your own list of modern classics with the Mighty Girls in your life.

Of course, the books featured in this post are only a handful of the wonderful Mighty Girl books available. To browse our collection of over 2,000 girl-empowering books for children and teens, visit our Books section.
Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

While there are dozens of great new Mighty Girl books getting published every year, there are also many girl-empowering stories that have been passed down for generations! Times may have changed, but these classic characters still speak to the girls of today just as they did to their grandmothers.

With that in mind, we're showcasing our favorite classic Mighty Girl stories. These are books that you’re likely to remember from your own childhood — in fact, you may have even been first introduced to them because an adult you know loved them as as child!

Of course, there are so many of these classic stories that it was hard to narrow down our list, so with that in mind, we’ve split our list of favorites into two parts. In this post, we’re highlighting our twenty favorite stories from 1950 and earlier and we follow-up with a selection of our favorite modern classics in our post Beloved Books, Part 2: Twenty Mighty Girl Modern Classics.

The classic stories featured below have already been passed down through multiple generations — now is a great time to introduce them to a new generation of Mighty Girls! Continue reading → Continue reading

We received a record number of photo submissions for our 2015 Halloween Gallery and we're awed by the creativity and variety of these Mighty Girls' amazing costumes. As we've always said, Mighty Girls know that their costume possibilities are limited only by their imaginations and with costumes ranging from ones based on favorite superheroes to ones inspired by historic role models, these Mighty Girls clearly know no bounds!

In this post, we've showcased a small sample of these incredible costumes -- to browse the nearly 2,000 photos submitted, visit the 2015 A Mighty Girl Halloween Gallery. And, to help you and your Mighty Girl learn more about the wonderful characters and historic figures depicted, we've also linked to our character collection and biography section where relevant.

And, if you're seeking girl-empowering dress-up clothing or costumes anytime of year, visit our extensive costume collection with options for all ages from infants through adults in A Mighty Girl's Halloween Costume Guide. You can also find Mighty Girl stories for many of the upcoming holidays, including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, in our Holidays & Celebrations collection. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communication Specialist

If realism-based graphic novels amplify and deepen a story grounded in the real world, guess what an author and illustrator can do with a tale of pure fantasy! For young readers, it can be revolutionary to see new worlds, born entirely of someone's imagination, come to life on the page. A good combination of story and artwork can make almost anything seem real and who doesn't love the feeling of being absorbed in a good book?

With that in mind, the second blog post in our graphic novel series features books for children that are set in worlds of fantasy. Whether these stories make just a small tweak to an otherwise realistic setting — like adding friendly robots, escaped doodles, or alligators that really do live in the sewers — or create a completely new world to explore, these books will open kids' minds to the incredible possibilities inherent in storytelling. They might just be inspiring to come up with an amazing new world themselves!

For recommendations of graphic novels that are grounded in real life, check out the first post in our blog series, Life in Pictures: Mighty Girl Graphic Novels for Young Readers about Real Life. You also can browse our entire collection of over 100 graphic novels starring girls and women on a wide variety of themes in our special feature on the Top Graphic Novels Starring Mighty Girls. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

While many people think of graphic novels as "just comic books", the truth is that a good graphic novel doesn't simplify a story: instead, it amplifies it, drawing out details and adding emotional weight. For young or reluctant readers, in particular, a graphic novel format makes it easier to understand more complex stories. In fact, we'd argue that high-quality graphic novels are a key part of any library!

With that in mind, we're showcasing a selection of high quality graphic novels starring Mighty Girls — and since there are so many good titles out there, we are sharing them in a series, not a single post! In this blog post, we're featuring graphic novels for children that are grounded in real life. While some of these titles are non-fiction and explore moments in history or role models of the past, others are fictional stories that capture what it's like to be a girl growing up in today's world. No matter which one you choose, young readers will see that there are plenty of amazing stories within the everyday world.

And stay tuned for future blog posts, where we'll share graphic novels for young readers that are set in fantasy worlds, as well as more challenging graphic novel titles suitable for teens! In the meantime, you can browse our entire collection of over 100 graphic novels starring girls and women in our special feature on the Top Graphic Novels Starring Mighty Girls. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

In our latest round-up of Mighty Girl new releases, we're showcasing our fifteen favorite new books for children and teens published in July and August. From stories of fatherly love to modern fairy tales, from fascinating biographies to suspenseful and page-turning fiction, there's sure to be a title to appeal to every lover of girl-empowering literature!

Of course, to discover more titles for children and teens, you can also browse our entire book collection of over 2,000 titles starring girls and women or mouse over 'Books' on our main menu to open our book directory.
Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Long or short, straight or curly, in ponytails, locs, or a ballerina bun -- there are so many wonderful ways Mighty Girls wear their hair! But hair can also be the source of body image insecurity for many girls as they wonder if their hair is too thick or too flat, the wrong color or the wrong texture. And, of course, even if she loves her hair, there’s always the battle when it comes time to pull out the brush and comb.

In our new blog post, we're sharing stories about Mighty Girls and their hair. Whether they're celebrating their unique hair, wrestling to keep it under control, or donating it to a worthy cause, these Mighty Girls love their hair -- even if they find it a little challenging at times. They also come to recognize that, in the end, it's not the hair that matters: it's the head underneath!

In Brush Your Hair, Medusa! by Joan Holub (age 1 - 3), Medusa refuses to take proper care of her long, curly hair, which gets knottier and dirtier with every moment. Her hair is so twisted and matted that, when her grandmother finally arrives, she’s frozen in surprise! Grandma knows the solution, though, and after a hairdresser bravely does battle with her locks, Medusa is sporting a brand new - short and easy to maintain - hairstyle.

Most kids will be familiar with the story of Rapunzel, but that’s not the only flight of fancy with amazing hair! In Dalia’s Wondrous Hair / El cabello maravilloso de Dalia by Laura Lacamara (age 3 - 8), Dalia wakes up one morning to discover that her hair has grown “tall and thick as a Cuban royal palm tree.” When her mother wonders what Dalia will do with her wondrous hair, Dalia has an idea and starts plastering her hair with mud and leaves. The next morning, when she carefully unwraps her towering hair, it turns out that her hair has been protecting something very special! This imaginative bilingual picture book is sure to charm nature-loving Mighty Girls.

For an equally fanciful story about hair — with a healthy dollop of humor! — check out Laurie Halse Anderson’s The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes To School (age 4 - 8). As a baby, Zoe needed two strollers and two cribs: one for her, and one for her unruly hair. By the time she’s started school, her wild tresses are becoming a problem, deliberately flaunting the strict Ms. Trisk’s first grade classroom rules. Determined to tame Zoe’s hair, Ms. Trisk and Zoe’s parents try barrettes, braids, even duct tape but the hair always springs free. It will take some clever thinking and a willingness to compromise for Zoe — and her hair — to find the right balance between individuality and following the rules. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Q&A by the A Mighty Girl Team

When Target announced that they would be removing gendered signs from the toy sections of its US stores, A Mighty Girl – and many in our community – were thrilled. Our Facebook post announcing this change, as of this writing, went viral with over 75,000 likes and 30,000 shares. While the response in our community was overwhelmingly positive, as word of the announcement spread, some commentators also had questions and concerns about the change. How would this affect shoppers? What does it mean for girls, boys, and parents? And, perhaps the root of many concerns: what’s the big deal about gendered marketing anyway?

LEGO ad, 1981

As supporters of ending gender discrimination and stereotyping, we applaud Target’s decision – and the many other efforts like it happening both in North America and around the world – so we wanted to address some of the most common questions we’ve been hearing about gender-neutral signage and marketing: how it works, why it’s important, and how it fits into other efforts to change the way the world sees girls and boys.

Gender-neutral marketing and merchandising is about much more than political correctness; instead, it’s a sign of the times, one that points to a shift away from strictly limited gender roles and towards a world where everyone can pursue their interests and talents without feeling like the odd one out. By the end of this blog post, we hope those with concerns will see why this decision is about so much more than signs. And, if you'd like to explore these issues in more depth than is possible in a short post, we've also recommend several books on this topic in the resource section below. Among the recommendations is an excellent new release for parents filled with advice on how to raise kids who are less constrained by gender stereotypes, Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue. 

If you share our feelings about gender-neutral toy marketing, please support companies that are doing the right thing by changing the way they organize their toy departments. You can leave a message congratulating Target for their decision on their Facebook page. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

For many families, summer means time to travel! But whether you’re driving or flying, visiting family or exploring a new area of the country or the world, one of the biggest challenges of a long trip can be finding ways to entertain kids on the journey, especially if you're trying to limit screen time. To make it easier, we've pulled together recommendations for travel activities that can keep kids of all ages content and busy on your trip — so many, in fact, that we can’t fit them all in one blog post!

In this post, we focus on travel games that are compact and perfect for tossing into backpacks and carry-on bags to be pulled out whenever you need them. We’ve included options for one person to use alone, as well as multi-player games, and even some fun learning and creative games that can give your kids' fun ways to build on what they learned in school over the year.

The games featured in this post are just a small sample of the games found on A Mighty Girl -- to browse our entire selection, visit our Travel Games section. Continue reading → Continue reading