Women’s History Month has arrived, and so have our recommended titles to help you celebrate. From memoirs to kids books to historical fiction, there are so many books that focus on the contributions women from all backgrounds have made to society. Let’s continue to celebrate this month and every month!
You’re welcome to choose any of your favorites or #tbr titles, but if you need a little bit of help here are some titles we’ve put together to get you started.
A is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World
by Eva Chen
Illustrated by Derek Desierto
Why stick with plain old A B C when you can have Amelia (Earhart), Beyonce, Nina (Simone), Ruth (Bader Ginsburg)–all the way to EXtraordinary YOU and the Zillions of adventures you will go on! Instagram superstar and author of Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes Eva Chen shines a spotlight on 23 amazing women in this sassy and fun alphabet board book, perfect for the youngest of budding feminists.
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder
by Ma-Nee Chacaby
A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From the remote community of her childhood to the larger urban centers she later called home, Chacaby experienced abuse, addiction, racism, homophobia, and homelessness. Eventually, with the right support and drawing on her grandmother’s teachings for strength, she emerged from those experiences grounded in faith, compassion, humor, and resilience.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the young student of science Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley’s name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.
Here We Go Again: My Life in Television
by Betty White
Here We Go Again is a behind-the-scenes look at the late Betty White’s career from her start on radio to her first show, Hollywood on Television, to several iterations of The Betty White Show and much, much more. Packed with wonderful anecdotes about famous personalities and friendships, stories of Betty’s offscreen life, and the comedienne’s trademark humor, this deliciously entertaining book will give readers an entree into Betty’s fascinating life, confirming yet again why we can’t get enough of this funny lady.
I Am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul
by Christine Gutierrez
This raw and relatable guide to radical self-care and self-love empowers readers to embrace the powerful Diosa within. In this fiercely inspiring book from a fresh new voice in the women’s empowerment space, psychotherapist Christine Gutierrez welcomes women to join her in healing the wounds from past hurt or trauma to reclaim their worth and come back home to their true self and soul. Diosa is the Spanish word for Goddess. A diosa is anyone who honors the primal feminine energy in the world and within themselves.
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)
by Malala Yousafzai
The bestselling memoir by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. I Am Malala. This is my story. Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her to survive. Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In the Time of the Butterflies
by Julia Alvarez
Set during the waning days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republica in 1960, this extraordinary novel tells the story the Mirabal sisters, three young wives and mothers who are assassinated after visiting their jailed husbands.
Say Her Name (Poems to Empower)
by Zetta Elliott
Illustrated by Loveis Wise
Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that Black Lives Matter. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience, and courage of Black women and girls.
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
by Jill Lepore
A riveting work of historical detection revealing that the origin of one of the world’s most iconic superheroes hides within it a fascinating family story–and a crucial history of twentieth-century feminism Wonder Woman, created in 1941, is the most popular female superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, no superhero has lasted as long or commanded so vast and wildly passionate a following. Like every other superhero, Wonder Woman has a secret identity. Unlike every other superhero, she has also has a secret history. Harvard historian and “New Yorker “staff writer Jill Lepore has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman’s creator.
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tilburon, South Carolina – a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
