75 New & Classic Girl-Empowering Books for Holiday Gift Giving!

"I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book." — J. K. Rowling

When you’re looking for a gift for a book lover of any age, the natural choice is a good book! And, while the hundreds of titles in A Mighty Girl's book collection have been vetted to ensure they are both high quality and girl empowering, we understand that during the busy holiday season a 'cheat' sheet of the best Mighty Girl books for gifting can make choosing a book for a special child or young person much easier. To that end, in this blog post, we've complied a selection of enduring Mighty Girl favorites, alongside a number of the best 2016 new releases (which are marked by a brand new icon below). From gorgeously-illustrated picture books to thought-provoking teen fiction, these titles will delight, intrigue, educate, and inspire girls and boys alike!

To discover more 2016 releases, stay tuned for our annual 'Year in Review' round-up of the best Mighty Girl books of 2016, which we'll be releasing in early January.

Of course, you can also find many more reading recommendations in our entire collection of nearly 2,500 Mighty Girl books for all ages. And, for anyone looking for reading recommendations for adults, don't miss our new blog post Stories of Mighty Women: 2016 Biographies for Adult Readers. 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 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

A Mighty Girl's top picks of the best new biographies for children and teens about incredible women from around the world.

When Women's History Month rolls around, it can be amazing to discover just how many women of note you've never heard of before. In fact, adults in our community often comment on our posts wondering why they hadn't heard of a particular woman before. Scientists, artists, explorers, and more — too often these names and accomplishments are new to all of us.

Fortunately, for the next generation, these inspiring women could be household names! From beautiful picture books to intriguing middle-grade and young adult biographies, there are more high quality stories of women who made their mark on the world than ever before. And the more of these books we put in their hands, the more today's kids — both girls and boys — will seek to learn more about the contributions of women in history.

With that in mind, this blog post showcases dozens of inspiring new Mighty Girl biographies for you to share with the children and teens in your life. All 2015 and 2016 releases, these books capture the fascinating lives and impressive accomplishments of women who made their marks on the world. And who knows? Someday, one of the Mighty Girls reading them might just be the subject of her own biography! Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of books about healthy relationships for tweens and teens in recognition of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

Tweens and teens are entering a new world of love and romantic relationships. But when you combine the overwhelming emotions of first crushes and partners with the emotional complexity of tween and teen minds, it can be hard to figure out whether a relationship is real — and whether it's healthy. Add in media messages that glorify unhealthy behavior — how many romantic comedies involve the boy who just won't give up on the girl who said no? — and kids can find it extremely difficult to figure out what healthy romantic love really looks like.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, which makes it the perfect time to start conversations about healthy relationships with the Mighty Girls in your life. Dating violence among teens is a big issue: according to Loveisrespect, an organization dedicated to helping teens in unhealthy and abusive relationships, one in three US teens will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from a partner before they reach adulthood. But parents and educators who teach kids about what a positive, respectful relationship looks like — and how to identify an unhealthy one — can make a huge difference.

So this February, start talking to your kids about what healthy relationships look like! By sharing these stories, and talking about what makes real love so empowering and special, we can help the next generation find the loving, respectful partners they deserve. Continue reading → Continue reading

Earlier this month, we shared our top picks of 2015 Mighty Girl stories for toddlers and young children in our post, Top 2015 Mighty Girl Books for Young Children. This year's releases included a bounty of girl-empowering fiction and biographies for both middle grade and young adult readers. In this blog post, we're sharing many of our favorites from the past year. With such a wide diversity of books ranging from realistic fiction to fantasy -- all starring Mighty Girl protagonists -- there's sure to be a title to intrigue every reader young and old alike!

For our favorite picture books and early chapter books from 2015, visit our post on the Top 2015 Mighty Girl Books for Young Children. You can also view our entire collection of recent Mighty Girl releases in our special feature 2015 Mighty Girl Books: A Year in Review.

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.

2015 has been a great year for Mighty Girl book releases so to help you find just the right book to wrap up this holiday, we're sharing fifty of our favorite girl-empowering titles that were released this year. From gorgeously-illustrated picture books to thought-provoking teen fiction, these titles will delight, intrigue, educate, and inspire girls and boys alike!

This post also provides a sneak peek at our upcoming 2015 Mighty Girl Year in Review series, which we’ll be releasing at the end of the year. Of course, you can also find many more reading recommendations in our entire collection of nearly 2,500 Mighty Girl books for all ages. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Communications Specialist

Do you remember having your period for the first time? Were you relieved, scared, confused? Did you know what was happening, or were you told after the fact? Did you think you could bleed to death or make people sick, or believe that you couldn’t swim or go to gym class? Did you hear someone make joking references to women being “on the rag” and think, “I’ll die of embarrassment if anyone knows?” Did you feel like you were prepared?

In a world that is increasingly public about all sorts of previously private topics, menstruation is still a taboo subject. What information girls do hear around them is often negative or incorrect, and even school health classes that discuss the subject often focus on the “nuts and bolts” without ever touching on the real, practical experience of a monthly cycle. As a result menarche — a girl’s first period — is still likely to be disconcerting for her.

But parents, mentors, and friends of Mighty Girls can turn this milestone of womanhood into a much more positive experience. By providing lots of accurate information, real-life experience, and practical advice, girls can learn to view their menstrual cycle in a totally different way: as an important element of their female nature and as a key sign of coming adulthood. In this blog, we’ll help you turn a girl’s first period into an empowering experience. Continue reading → Continue reading

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