“Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, ‘no more monkeys jumping on the bed!'”
From the time I first started reading this book with my baby, several things bothered me. Why did the mother need to call the doctor to get this ridiculous advice that she must have already yelled at her kids? (I know, that’s why it’s funny). And why do the monkeys automatically get a male pronoun?
For almost three years, I’ve changed this pronoun to “she” every time we read it, as I do with MANY books. Then we get to a local children’s program featuring lots of nursery rhymes and songs. Of course we sing the monkey song, and of course everyone says “he.” Kiddo says “he” too. I breathe a weary sigh. Three years of effort down the tubes.
Related: Try this One Little Trick to End Gender Stereotyping
Where Are the Girls?
Before we dig into some of the best feminist children’s books, let’s admit we have a problem.
The most popular children’s books feature very few girls, and very few children of color. My own unscientific research of our 60+ book collection revealed that females were only 32% of characters in baby and toddler board books.
And I have a keen eye toward female representation, so what does this say about less intentional book collections?
Even worse, male characters in our home library were eight times more likely to be the protagonist of the story. When female characters ARE present in a story, they are overrepresented as mothers. More official research from the Observer found that characters were 50% more likely to be male than female.
Diversity is still lacking, and parents have to search with purpose to find diverse characters in children’s books.
How can my child feel that she is equally as important, when books tell her she’s not?
Related: How to Make Women’s History Month Fun for Kids
Books for your little feminist
Parents, grandparents, family and friends of all children, no matter the gender, will want to include these inspiring “new classics” in their child’s library. Not only do they feature empowering stories about women and girls, but most authors are female, too.
This post includes affiliate links for your shopping convenience, which means ToB will get a commission if you choose to purchase something, at no extra cost to you. But I only recommend products I love. Thanks for your support!
This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer
This board book features women like Ada Lovelace and Ruby Bridges with adorable illustrations and accessible 1-2 sentence descriptions, making it perfect for even the youngest baby up to about age 5. Each woman looks active and confident, with definite purpose, thanks to some fantastic drawings. Wilma Rudolph running is one of my daughter’s favorites.
This primer is exactly that – a terrific way to introduce more than 10 heroes to little kids.
Click here to buy Little Trailblazer.
Feminist Baby
If you’re tired of gender stereotypes boxing girls into sweet and docile roles and telling boys that bad behavior is “just boys,” you’ll get a kick out of this rebellious little baby. She bangs on pots and pans and makes as much noise as the next baby on the block.
Feminist Baby is a great shower gift or new baby welcome gift.
Click here for Feminist Baby. You can also pre-order Feminist Baby Finds Her Voice, which is due out on May 15 – can’t wait to read this one!
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World
The book profiles thirteen women who faced difficulties in their lives, including Maria Tallchief and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
I welcomed the addition a few lesser known figures such as worker advocate Clara Lemlich and reporter Nellie Bly. For slightly older kids than the first two board books, each page reads like a short story, accompanied by eye-catching visuals and quotes from the women.
“When anyone tells me I can’t do anything…I’m just not listening anymore.” – Florence Griffith Joyner
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
I was jazzed when I learned last year that Vashti Harrison, an incredible artist, was introducing a children’s book. It features more than 30 women, some well-known like Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou, along with women with lesser “fame” such as Julie Dash and Augusta Savage. The illustrations are so inviting that you feel like you could be friends with all of these amazing women.
Each description is hefty enough that it could inspire a school paper! Kids 4 and up will love this book and keep it on their bookcases for a loooong time.
Click here for Little Leaders. Also, keep your eyes peeled for “Little Leaders: Visionary Women Around the World” coming out in November!
Rosie Revere, Engineer
When girls fail, they tend to think they lack the necessary skills, whereas boys see it as something circumstantial; one they can overcome with effort.
So how do we teach our daughters to be perfectly imperfect? This is one of the strategies we explore on Day 2 of the 5 Day Reboot to Raising Confident Girls.
I love Rosie because her story illustrates the actual necessity of failure. Especially in creative and scientific fields, getting to the solution often requires multiple attempts.
We also need to teach our girls that, without failure, they won’t know how fulfilling success can be. By trying, we fail every day. Those of us with passions and drive will fail the most. And that’s ok.
Rosie was one of our inspiring Halloween costumes for girls and she is still one of my favorite children’s characters. “Life might have its failures but this was not it. The only true failure can come if you quit.”
Feminism must be an insanity, ‘Feminist Baby” really? What is wrong with children’s books having both male and female characters, and why must we keep score? Very sad, this non-gender world we are all supposed to live in today. I have a daughter, and will not be raising her to be a radical feminist and to hate men, and she loves to wear dresses and be feminine and boys should be allowed to embrace their masculinity, with respect for self and others. Crazy world we live in, glad I grew up in a kinder/gentler society, when it was ok to be the human being you were born to be, much better parenting from my mother/grandmother’s generations (1911 and 1931 were their birthdates) so sad for current and future generations.
I’m sorry that you’re under the mistaken impression that feminism means man hating. I thought that myth was dispelled 30 or 40 years ago, but I guess not! Feminism works to ensure gender equity for ALL, no matter their gender. Boys are also harmed by ideas about masculinity that center on dominance, “winning,” and not showing emotions. I don’t think that’s a healthy way for anyone to grow up. I am actually working toward a “kinder/gentler society” in which it’s “okay to be the human being you were born to be,” rather than what someone else thinks you should be, based on your genitals. As humans, we are so much more complex than that.
Great suggestions! We have 2/5 but would love to expand our library with the others.
Glad you like the ideas! Sounds like your library is in good shape 🙂
It’s so important to have children’s books with strong female lead characters! I’m not a mom but it’s so important to think about these messages and how to deliver them one day to my children!
Will definitely keep these in mind for the future! Thanks!
These are amazing books! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Caitlin! Glad you like the ideas.
These are some awesome looking reads. Thoughtful and insightful titles to expand the thinking. Thanks!
Thanks Angela! I hope you enjoy.
sorry for the comments, just trouble shooting
No problem! They went through 🙂
thanks for sharing
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It’s great we are finally seeing more representation for our children. I’ll have to keep some of these books in mind for my niece!
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I hope she enjoys them!
Thank you for sharing this list of books. I have never heard of any of them and as a mom of two little girls… I want them all!!! I will definitely be ordering some of these books!
I’m so glad Michelle! I hope you like them 🙂
What an empowering complication of books. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you like them Christine!
The word is ‘compilation’ of books not complicated. But how ironic, since this website makes parenting way too complicated and overthinks gender issues. I am female, and glad to not be a feminist, even though worked and supported myself all of my adult life, but would never buy into the constant barrage of misogyny and xenophobia. What is it called when boys/men are treated bad, there is no word for that…. BTW all comments should be posted, differing opinions make for better discourse.
I remember seeing a video online about the staggering and sad statistics of girls/women (and girls/women of color) being the lead in a book. it’s so sad and i’m so glad we are noticing this and there are great books for our little ladies. love these feminist picks! awesome!
Courtney
http://bettyjulietdiaries.com
It really is so sad. As if girls and women aren’t 50% of the population! Girls need to learn they are the “leads” too. Thanks for the comment Courtney.
So many great books to check out! Will def have to pass along this list to some little ladies I know!
Thanks Deanna! Keep me posted if you check them out!
These are all so great! I don’t have kids yet but these will definitely be on the list of things to buy
http://closet-fashionista.com/
Thanks Meg. They can be great gifts for other kiddos you know too. I hope boys will read these too!
Thank you for this info! deff going to stock a few of these for my little ladies!
Cool, Annie, let me know if you enjoy any!