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Bookmark the NYPL's “Essential Reads on Feminism” for kids and teens

There's plenty of books to choose from!

Written by
Danielle Valente
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August 18, 2020 marks 100 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified, and the New York Public Library is reflecting on the milestone. 

In order to highlight the suffrage movement, its limitations and what society can do going forward, the library has created three book lists devoted to equality and feminism for readers of all ages. (Plus  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand treated us to a special virtual reading of her picture book, Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote.)

If you're looking to stock the bookshelves before history class starts this fall, start with these titles:  

NYPL's Essential Reads on Feminism: For Kids 

  • Black Girl Magic by Mahogany L. Browne
  • Black Women Who Dared by Naomi M. Moyer
  • Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,
  • Brave. Black. First. 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World by Cheryl Willis Hudson
  • Delores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers by Sarah Warren
  • Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport
  • Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America by Deborah Diesen
  • Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
  • The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure by Caroline Paul
  • Heart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President by Ann Malaspina
  • Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World by Katherine Halligan
  • I Am Enough by Grace Byers
  • I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
  • Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told by Walter Dean Myers
  • It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn
  • Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
  • Leading the Way: Women in Power by Janet Howell and Theresa Howell
  • Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter
  • Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts by Leah Tinari
  • Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
  • Lucía the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza
  • Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
  • Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote by Dean Robbins
  • The Moon Within by Aida Salazar
  • My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner
  • Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
  • Rad American Women A–Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History... and Our Future! by Kate Schatz
  • Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote by Susan Zimet
  • Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Susan Hood
  • She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton
  • They, She, He, Me: Free to Be! by Maya Gonzalez and Matthew SG
  • Women Win the Vote!: 19 for the 19th Amendment by Nancy B. Kennedy

New York Public Library's Essential Reads on Feminism: For Teens 

  • Alice Paul and the Fight for Women's Rights by Deborah Kops
  • Ask a Queer Chick: A Guide to Sex, Love, and Life for Girls Who Dig Girls by Lindsay King-Miller
  • Because I Was a Girl: True Stories for Girls of All Ages by Melissa de la Cruz
  • Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
  • Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
  • Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu
  • The Bride Was a Boy by Chii
  • Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism by Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman (eds.)
  • Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto In Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Feminism Is... by Alexandra Black, Laura Buller, Emily Hoyle and Dr. Megan Todd
  • Feminism: Reinventing the F-Word by Nadia Abushanab Higgins
  • Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom
  • Fight Like a Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World by Laura Barcella
  • Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Valenti
  • Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time by Tanya Lee Stone
  • Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution by KaeLyn Rich
  • Girls Write Now: Two Decades of True Stories from Young Female Voices
  • Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen (ed.)
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  • I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman In Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú
  • Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Dewart Bell
  • Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani
  • Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
  • Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns
  • #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale (eds.)
  • Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill
  • She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
  • Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia
  • Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
  • Trans Teen Survival Guide by Owl and Fox Fisher
  • Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You by Kathryn Gonzales and Karen Rayne
  • Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling
  • With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote by Ann Bausum
  • You Don't Have to Like Me: Essays on Growing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding Feminism by Alida Nugent
  • Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall

Borrow these books in e-book form and be sure to check out our daily storytimes with the New York Public Library every Monday through Friday at 10am! 

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