By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist, and Carolyn Danckaert, A Mighty Girl Co-Founder

Every year brings great new children’s and young adult book releases, and 2014 was no exception — especially when it comes to books starring Mighty Girls! From fun fantasty to fascinating biographies, from thought-provoking realistic fiction to beautiful works of poetry, there have been dozens of wonderful releases in the past year. In fact, our 2014 Year in Review collection has topped 150 titles!

In this post, we showcase 35 of our favorite 2014 books for younger readers, including board books, picture books, and early chapter books. This wide assortment of titles feature diverse characters, engaging stories, and creative artwork that are sure to delight your Mighty Girl!

To learn about our favorite 2014 releases for tweens and teens, check out our post, Top 2014 Mighty Girl Books for Tweens and Teens. You can view our entire collection of recent Mighty Girl releases in our special feature 2014 Mighty Girl Books: A Year in Review.

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By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

In 2015, who knows what your Mighty Girl will do? A new year is full of possibility, prompting many of us to start dreaming about what new things we’ll do over the next twelve months. To help inspire your Mighty Girl, we’re sharing some of our favorite books about Mighty Girls who take a deep breath and leap with both feet into new experiences!

Of course, trying new things can be intimidating, and making your new dreams into reality takes persistence and planning. These books will remind your Mighty Girl that, even if it takes courage, time, and hard work, her dreams are always worth striving for!

And, if you're looking for more stories to help bolster your Mighty Girl's confidence to chase her dreams in the year ahead, check out our blog posts on 15 Self-Esteem Boosting Books for Mighty Girls and Confidence-Building Books for Mighty Girls. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

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, in our first-ever post filled with reading recommendations for adults and older teen readers, we're sharing twenty books about incredible women of past and present.

Our recommendations are all biographies with the exception of one remarkable work of historical fiction, The Invention of Wings. Moreover, to help you discover a few of the amazing new biographies which have been recently released, all of our recommended books have been published in the past two years and several are brand new releases.

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 learn more or order individual titles.

So whether you're looking for a good book to delve into or a last-minute holiday gift for a friend, these women's stories are sure to inspire! Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Since the founding of A Mighty Girl two and a half years ago, we've shared many books with our community. While our book collection features over 2,000 girl-empowering titles, there are a number of titles that we've discovered are among the best loved by our supporters. From stories that have been beloved by generations of Mighty Girls to recent releases that have quickly become community favorites, these are the books that have been consistently popular with A Mighty Girl's community.

In this post, we're sharing 40 of these community favorites. From a board book for toddlers to hefty novels for teen readers, we've included options for Mighty Girls of all ages. Of course, there are many more girl-empowering classics that you can also discover on our website. In two blog posts, we also recently showcased 20 Mighty Girl Classics from before the 1950s and 20 Mighty Girl Modern Classics from the 1950s to the 1980s.

As with all of our posts, you can click on any book title below to learn more about the book, including read reviews, or order a copy. We hope that one of these community favorites will soon become a favorite of your own Mighty Girl!

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By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Dolls and figurines have been favorite pretend play toys for hundreds of years, but there are a lot more choices now than there were in the past! Today, dolls and action figures can represent historical figures, popular book, TV, and movie characters, or people from around the world.

If you’ve been looking for a unique doll or exciting action figure for your Mighty Girl, we’ve put together a collection of some of our favorites! From Mighty Girl role models from history to comic book stars, from children’s book characters to paper dolls, there's a new best friend awaiting every child!

For even more empowering dolls and action figures, check out the Dolls / Action Figures section of our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide or our full selection of over 400 options.

To learn about more of our favorite toys of all varieties for Mighty Girls, including science, building, and pretend play toys, check out our Girl Empowerment Toy Blog Series or visit our 2014 Holiday Guide. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

When you’re looking for a gift for a book lover, the natural choice is a good book! There’s nothing more exciting for an avid reader than unwrapping a title they have been dying to read — or discovering an exciting new book they haven't heard of yet.

This year has been an excellent year for Mighty Girl releases, so there are plenty to choose from if you’re looking for a newer book for the young reader on your holiday list. In our new post, we've pulled together a selection of 35 new releases for children and teens. From fantasy to biography, from picture books to teen fiction — and even a few titles for parents — these's something for everyone in this collection.

It’s also a sneak peek at our upcoming 2014 Mighty Girl Year in Review series, which we’ll be releasing at the end of the year. And, if you'd like to learn more or order a copy of any of the books recommended below, just click the links for more detailed descriptions and reviews from other readers.

And, if you'd like to take a look back at last year's fantastic Mighty Girl books, visit our special feature on 2013 Mighty Girl Books: A Year in Review, which includes over 150 books for children and teens. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

With all of the amazing girl-empowering books out there it might seem like book lovers are easy to buy gifts for, but what if you want to get them something other than more titles for their library? Fortunately, there’s a whole world of gift options to help your Mighty Girl -- or the adult book lovers in your life -- celebrate their love of books, literature, and reading.

You could find the perfect literary-themed T-shirt or a beautiful book-themed poster. Maybe she’s crazy for a particular book character or she just loves to play with words and stories. This blog will provide you with some inspiration for almost any reader, whether she’s still enjoying story time on Mom or Dad’s knee or she’s sharing her childhood favorites with a new generation of Mighty Girls.

For more books, toys, and other resources to encourage your Mighty Girl's interest in storytelling and creative writing, check out our blog post on Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Tales: Encouraging Creative Writing and Storytelling.

To learn about more of our favorite toys of all varieties for Mighty Girls, check out our Girl Empowerment Toy Blog Series or visit our 2014 Holiday Guide. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

For kids who love to find out how things work: from electricity to computers to alternative energy sources, their curiosity knows no bounds. While it can seem challenging to work engineering, technology, or math into play, the truth is that there are lots of great toys available that give kids the chance to learn about engineering and technology -- all while having a great time!

Whether you have a budding engineer on your holiday list or you just want your Mighty Girl to feel comfortable with technology, the 25 engineering, technology, and math toys featured here will no doubt encourage her interest in learning more! It’s the perfect way to encourage kids to explore these subjects in fun, creative ways.

For our top picks of basic building toys, including more options for young children, check out our previous blog post, Putting It All Together: Top 20 Building Toys for Mighty Girls.

For more toys for young engineers and scientists, check out the STEM section of our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide or A Mighty Girl's entire selection of Science / Math Toys.

To learn about more of our favorite toys of all varieties for Mighty Girls, check out our Girl Empowerment Toy Blog Series or visit our 2014 Holiday Guide. Continue reading → Continue reading

We received a record number of photo submissions for our 2014 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 over 1,300 photos submitted, visit the 2014 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 Communications Specialist

August and September are big months for new children's book releases --- which means there are lots of newly published titles starring Mighty Girls! From terrific new picture books to engrossing teen fiction, there have been some excellent books hitting the shelves in the last two months. To help you learn about the standouts and to whet your appetite for the release of our special feature on the best Mighty Girl books of 2014 at the end of the year, we’re sharing a few of our favorite new releases. Whether your Mighty Girl is 3 or 13, we’re sure you’ll find something she’ll love!

If you'd like to learn more about any of the books featured in our post, just click the title of the book to open its A Mighty Girl page. There, you can read reviews, learn about related books, and order your favorites for your kids.

To check out our previous round-ups of Mighty Girl book releases, check out our special features: 2012 Year In Review and 2013 Year In Review.

Be Patient, Pandora by Joan Holub, illustrated by Leslie Patricelli (age 1 - 4)

“Do not open the box, Pandora!” warns Pandora’s mother, so she doesn’t...but she does touch it, lean on it, sit on it, even jump on it! Unsurprisingly, the box soon flies open, ruining the big batch of cupcakes hidden inside. Fortunately for Pandora, one little cupcake, representing Hope, is still in the box for her and her mother to share. This simple adaptation of the myth of Pandora’s Box, part of the new Mini Myths series, features simple, fun text and hilarious illustrations.

Ladybug Girl and the Dress-Up Dilemma by Jacky Davis, illustrated by David Soman (age 3 - 5)

Ladybug Girl is back, and Lulu has a big decision to make — what to be for Halloween! She tries on lots of different costumes, but none of them seems quite right. She hopes for inspiration as her family goes pumpkin picking and takes a hayride, and she finds it in the form of a little girl who needs a helping hand. Maybe the perfect costume has been right under her nose the whole time! Fans of Ladybug Girl will love this book about being true to yourself. Continue reading → Continue reading