By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

A few days ago, we announced the release of our special feature on the top 2013 Mighty Girl Books with a blog post featuring our favorite 2013 releases for younger readers. In today's post, we're showcasing twenty of the fantastic girl-empowering tween and teen books released this past year!

Our selection features new authors as well as returning ones, and both stand-alone books and volumes of some of our top Mighty Girl series. No matter what your Mighty Girl enjoys reading, she’ll find something to intrigue her here!

Of course, this is just a small sample of the many wonderful books released in 2013. Narrowing down our favorites was truly tricky, so you're sure to discover more great titles in our complete 2013 Mighty Girl Books.

And, if you'd like to discover more recent releases starring Mighty Girls, check out our round-up of the top Mighty Girl stories from last year in our special feature on the 2012 Mighty Girl Books: A Year in Review.

Continue reading → Continue reading

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

Amelia Earhart, the aviation pioneer, equal rights activist, and all around courageous heroine for generations of girls and women was born on this day in 1897. An icon of twentieth century bravery — but also that of mystery — Earhart is most well-known as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and to disappear during her attempted flight around the world.

As a child, Amelia Earhart had little to no interest in airplanes, but filled her days by exploring her neighborhood with her younger sister, reading voraciously, or following and collecting various critters found in her explorations. As a teen, Amelia kept a scrapbook filled with stories of women who were successful in careers dominated by men at the time.

After working as a nurse’s aide during World War I, Earhart went for her first ride in an airplane in 1920. It was that very flight — only ten minutes long, but that was all it took to change her life — that made Amelia Earhart say: “By the time I got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly.”

On January 3, 1921, Amelia Earhart started flying lessons, and six months later, she owned her very own airplane, nicknamed “The Canary”. It was with that plane that she set a world record for female pilots in 1922, being the first to reach an altitude of 14,000 feet. On May 15, 1923, she became the 16th woman to receive a pilot’s license from the Fédération Aèronatique Internationale.

In April of 1928, Earhart received a phone call asking her if she’d like to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. While she was a passenger and not the the pilot of this June 1928 flight, its news coverage helped to promote her to a level of celebrity, leading to her nicknames of “Lady Lindy” or the “Queen of the Air”. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Jennifer de Beer, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

To visit our expanded "Read Aloud" collection, visit our special feature, found in our "Best of A Mighty Girl" section, on the Top Read Aloud Books Starring Mighty Girls.

“Storytime” typically evokes images of small children seated in a ring on the floor, or perhaps a parent & child cuddled together before bed. Whisked away into a world filled with dragons and magical spells, the nuances of friendships, or glimpses into another time and place, read aloud sessions open up a world of possibilities. Often, these shared stories allow children to engage in material that would be beyond their independent reading levels.

Solid and extensive research exists on the importance and positive effects of reading aloud to young children. A recent analysis of international data, conducted by the OECD, supports the strong link between oral language development and reading skills, and even goes so far as to say that nurturing such skills at an early age is directly related to success rates in later school years. The practice of reading aloud is widely encouraged by many from Day One (if not before!), and the benefits are plentiful: increased literacy, school readiness, stimulation of language development, imagination, and memory -- the list goes on. Reading aloud also provides a prime opportunity for bonding and strengthening the connection with the children in your life. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Jennifer de Beer, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

We are pleased to continue our new blog series, A Mighty Girl Creators, with our latest installment: a conversation with author Doreen Rappaport. An award-winning creator of nearly forty books for children and young adults, Ms. Rappaport often shares the true stories of remarkable individuals from over the course of history. In particular, she likes to feature those figures whom she calls “not-yet-celebrated.” She is an especially appropriate subject for Women’s History Month, as her writing so often celebrates the lives and contributions of women while making their stories accessible to young readers.

On A Mighty Girl’s website, you will find multiple books from Ms. Rappaport’s pen, and the selections cover a wide range of non-fiction territory. There are picture books presenting engaging biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller, and a gripping tale of female baseball legends. Older children will be invited to read stories of danger and bravery in Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom, a collection of five true tales, four of which focus on girls or women. A young adult audience will discover fascinating historic content within the covers of The Flight of Red Bird: The Life of Zitkala-Ša and American Women: Their Lives in Their Words, two publications that heavily feature primary source material. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Jennifer de Beer, A Mighty Girl Research Intern

The season of reflection is upon us, and here at A Mighty Girl we’ve been taking a look back at the year’s new releases. As it is also the season of gifting, many of you are likely interested in finding some fresh, new material to inspire and delight the Mighty Girls in your life. Whether you like to stay on top of new releases or are seeking the perfect present for a young book lover, you are in luck!

Our latest special collection, 2012 Mighty Girl Books: A Year in Review features more than more than 100 empowering books for girls, the majority of which are brand new additions to our site.

Over the course of this past year, a wide variety of books have hit the market that feature stellar Mighty Girl characters. The new titles run the gamut, from picture books to young adult novels, historical fiction to fantasy, and the return of old favorites alongside newcomers. Continue reading → Continue reading

Today we're excited to present one of our favorite new site additions ever -- A Mighty Girl's Character Collection! Whether your favorite Mighty Girl character is Madeline, Merida, or a historical figure like Marie Curie, you can now easily find everything on A Mighty Girl about your favorite character all in one place!

As we've expanded A Mighty Girl over the past few months from our initial collection of girl-empowering books and movies to include music, TV shows, and, just this past week, toys, we’ve realized that the site content related to your favorite characters is now found in multiple sections across the site. With our new Character Collection, you can find everything related to your favorite character with just one click.

If you mouse over the new "Character Collection" link on the top menu bar, it will open a directory featuring our four types of characters: fictional ones from books and TV shows/movies; historical girls and women; and a special collection dedicated just to superheroes. Continue reading → Continue reading

The beginning of the school year is one of the most exciting times of the year, but it can be one of the most anxiety-provoking as well! We’ve put together a list of the best back-to-school books to help your Mighty Girls make sense of these emotions and to show them that they’re not alone. These books speak to the range of school experiences, from first-day jitters to dealing with bullying to struggling to find one's own voice.

You can view the complete list of Mighty Girl school stories in our Back to School Special Feature or browse through a few of our favorites highlight below for students in different age groups, including new students, elementary school (grades 2 – 5), middle school (grades 5 – 9), and high school (grades 9 – 12).

Continue reading → Continue reading

Many people are familiar with Astrid Lindgren's beloved children's classic Pippi Longstocking but her lesser known novel, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter," is equally fantastic and highly recommended for those seeking a compelling adventure story starring a courageous and compassionate Mighty Girl.

The story is set in the early Middle Ages in Scandinavia and follows Ronia, a young girl growing up in a robber clan led by her father, Mattis. Ronia is a very spirited child, who spends her time exploring the countryside and taming wild horses. One day Ronia saves the life of the son of a rival clan chief and the two become friends. Eventually, the revelation of the children's close friendship leads to a massive feud between the clans and the decision by the children to run off together to the woods. In the end, the story ends happily as, inspired by the children's example, the adults eventually repent of their feuding and peace returns.

"Ronia" features an impressive heroine who is quite reminiscent of a young Katniss of The Hunger Games fame - she's brave and spirited, loyal to her friends, and determined to stay true to her beliefs even in the face of adult opposition. In "Ronia," not only has Lindgren created a rich engrossing fantasy world, she subtlety addresses themes of prejudice, gender, friendship, loyalty, and, most of all, the challenge of growing up and discovering what kind of person you want to be. Continue reading → Continue reading