Women’s History Reading List

March is Women’s History Month and the SEA Homeschoolers facebook group has been buzzing with excellent book recommendations to add to your family’s TBR lists. This Women’s History Reading List is full of curated recommendations making it perfect for March, or any other month! 

This unique A-Z book introduces 26 diverse women spanning several centuries and multiple professions. There are artists and abolitionists, scientists and suffragettes, rock stars and rabble-rousers, and agents of change of all kinds.

Recommended Age: Elementary Students

In this collection of true stories of forty trailblazing black women in American history readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things – bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come.

Recommended Age: Elementary Students

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what’s right for people everywhere. This biographical picture book tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents.

Recommended Age: Elementary Students

A bold collection of 40 biographical profiles showcasing extraordinary women from across the globe paired with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits.

Recommended Age: Elementary & Middle School Students

This non-fiction book tells the history of Amelia Earhart, from birth up until her plane disappeared. With notes, maps, and memorabilia sprinkled throughout, readers will be immersed in the story of one of history’s most memorable pilots.

Recommended Age: Upper Elementary & Middle School Students

With one single act of defiance, Rosa Parks became a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement. This autobiography details Rosa’s life, the violence and racism she witnessed, her desire to end segregation, and her boundless courage. By refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, she became a hero of her time and for generations to come.

Recommended Age: Upper Elementary & Middle School Students

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. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world.

Recommended Age: Middle School & High School Students

This novel in verse is inspired by the real story of Clara Lemlich, an immigrant who fought for factory workers’ rights in turn-of-the-century New York.

Recommended Age: Middle School & High School Students

In the testosterone fueled rock climbing scene of the 1980’s and 90’s Lynn Hill rose to the top becoming a legend in the sport. Her crowning

achievement was free climbing the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite, a nearly vertical 2,900 foot climb so difficult that it was said to be inconceivable. This is her life story in her own words; full of adventure, hard earned lessons, and larger than life people.

Recommended Age: Upper Middle School & High School

Lynn Povich tells the story of what happened to the women who worked for Newsweek in the 1970s before and after they banded together to sue the magazine for discrimination because they were systematically denied promotions and newsroom positions.

Recommended Age: Teens & Adults

A biography of Mary Crow Dog of the American Indian Movement who, along with 250 other Sioux, occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days in 1973 to expose mistreatment by local and federal governments. It is a story of death, of determination against all odds, of the cruelties perpetuated against American Indians, and of the Native American struggle for rights.

Recommended Age: Teens & Adults

The story of the inspiring young women exposed to the “wonder” substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Recommended Age: Teens & Adults

In this personal essay, adapted from her TEDx talk of the same name, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness.

Recommended Age: Teens & Adults

Do you have any suggestions to add to this Women’s History Reading List? Reach out and let us know!