"Your kid doesn't just want to take risks. She needs to take risks."

"Middle school gets a bad rap," says Michelle Icard, educator and author of Middle School Makeover: Improving the Way You and Your Child Experience the Middle School Years. "Middle school can be scary. But there is a lot to love about middle school, too. One of my favorites is that middle school can offer a buffet of new experiences." When kids start acting differently from the little kid you've known for so long however, whether it's wanting to dye their hair strange new colors, wearing only black, or hanging out with a new group of friends, many parents start to worry. Icard aims to set parents at ease, asserting that, while it may seem counterintuitive, one of the best way to keep your middle schooler out of trouble is to let them take risks — with a little guidance. “Who a child will become is not a foregone conclusion, and without trying a lot of new things, how can a young person truly know who she is?” Icard asks. "Becoming an independent adult, after all, requires a lot of bravery.... Your kid doesn’t just want to take risks. She needs to take risks." Continue reading → Continue reading

40 of our favorite Mighty Girl stories starring smart, confident, and courageous princesses!

A princess is always pretty, sweet, passive, and needs a prince to rescue her, right? Wrong!

At A Mighty Girl, we receive many questions from people searching for empowering depictions of princesses — books that prove that princesses can be much so more than the limited stereotype usually applied! Instead, princess characters can be smart, strong, courageous, daring, and kind; and most importantly, they can be individuals, just like the children who love hearing their stories.

In this blog post, we feature 40 of our favorite independent princess stories but this is just a small sample of the many great titles available. In our popular special feature The Ultimate Guide to the Independent Princess, you'll find more than 100 books starring smart, confident, and courageous princesses for all ages! Continue reading → Continue reading

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!

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 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

A great way to encourage girls' interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields is by sharing stories starring girls and women who love science and technology! Seeing female faces as scientists, whether in the lab or out in the field, is a powerful message to girls that these subjects are open to all. And, while introducing them to real-life women in STEM through biographies is important, fictional stories showing science-loving girls and women are another excellent way to entice girls with the unlimited possibilities before them.

With that in mind, we're showcasing our favorite fictional books for both children and teens starring Mighty Girls who love science, engineering, and math — each in their own thematic section below. With options ranging from the fun and fanciful to the more contemplative, you're sure to discover a title to excite every budding scientist or engineer, girls and boys alike — after all, both need to learn that science is for everyone!

If you're looking for books for children and teens about real-life female scientists, you can find dozens of titles in our Science Biographies section. And, for toys and science kits to further support her interests, check out the recommendations in our blog posts: Wrapped Up In Science: Top 40 Science Toys for Mighty Girls and Building Her Dreams: Building and Engineering Toys for Mighty Girls. Continue reading → Continue reading