Picture Books About Inspiring Girls Who Change the World

After watching an ice-skating movie, young Zahra sets her mind to learn how to ice skate even though her family and friends doubt her abilities. After all, she's too old to learn, the rink is too cold, and figure skaters don't look like her... not yet at least!

When her school decides to perform Peter Pan, Grace longs to play the lead, but her classmates point out that Peter was a boy. Besides, he wasn't black. With the support of her family, Grace learns that she can be anything she wants to be, and the results are amazing!

The city of Baghdad was full of thinkers, artists, and scientists, the littlest among them Zaha Hadid. Zaha knew from a young age that she wanted to be an architect. She set goals for herself and followed them against all odds.

In this stirring tribute to Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr., their granddaughter, Yolanda - a national civil rights figure in her own right - is ready to lead in this powerful picture book text! With inspiration from Langston Hughes and deep love for her grandparents, Yolanda King shows the world that young people are strong enough to carry on their elders' legacy while creating a new path for themselves. 

Monica Clark-Robinson's lyrical text encourages young girls to learn about the powerful and trailblazing women who laid the path for their own lives and empowers them to become role models themselves.

One day, Sally has had enough and decides to make herself heard. When she takes a chance and stands up to the bullies, she finds that one small girl can change the world.

When Grace Campbell's teacher reveals that the United States has never had a female president, Grace decides to be the first. And she immediately starts off her political career as a candidate in the school's mock election. But soon, she realizes that she has entered a tough race.

Little Mae is a girl with big dreams, a supportive loving family, unbounded passion, and all the right stuff to dance among the stars. Against all odds, she will overcome any obstacle to become an astronaut one day.

Unearth the true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens.

When Ruby Bridges was six years old, she became the first Black child to integrate the all-white William Frantz Elementary in Louisiana. Based on the pivotal events that happened in 1960 and told from her point of view, this is a poetic reflection on her experience that changed the face of history and the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement.

This remarkable true story about a little-known maverick Mexican heroine is brought vividly to life by her great-niece and Américas Award winner Aida Salazar, and Eisner Award honoree Molly Mendoza.

This beautiful picture book, illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award-illustrator George Ford, and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Coles, tells the true story of six-year-old Ruby Bridges.

No one expected this autistic girl to speak, but Temple did and demonstrated her talent for visual thinking that's made a lasting impact on farm management.

An illustrated rhyming biography of the African American woman and first Naval engineer to design a ship using a computer.

Ruby is unlike most little girls in old China. Instead of aspiring to get married, Ruby is determined to attend university when she grows up, just like the boys in her family.

Alta is the quickest kid in Clarksville, Tennessee, just like Wilma Rudolph, three-time Olympic gold medalist, once was. It doesn't matter that Alta's shoes have holes because Wilma came from hard times, too. But what happens when a new girl with shiny new shoes comes along and challenges Alta to a race?  

A picture book celebration of pioneering British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid who broke boundaries and defied forms. “An inspiring story based on a dazzlingly influential life.”-Kirkus

When her husband became president and she became first lady, Eleanor was ready to make her mark. This graceful portrait of a vivacious American icon radiates the essence of Eleanor, a model for kindness and purpose, in her time and in ours.

This picture book introduces the Children's March and 9-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks, the youngest known child to be arrested in 1963 for a civil rights protest.

When Frida Kahlo's mother was worn out from caring for her five sisters, her father gave Frida lessons in brushwork and color. When polio kept her bedridden for nine months, drawing saved her from boredom. When a bus accident left her in agony, her paintings expressed her pain and depression - and her joys and loves.