One of the strongest trends we’ve noticed in the last year has been an interest in children’s books about accomplished women – we literally can’t keep them on our shelves!

We adore the Little People, Big Dreams series. These colourful, cute and simple picture books present the stories of well-known women from girlhood up, allowing young readers aged 4 years and up to find new idols and role models, and hopefully be inspired to dream of big achievements for themselves.

So far this series contains books about Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, Amelia Earhart, Maya Angelou, Marie Curie and Agatha Christie. A little birdie has also told us to expect stories of Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks and Audrey Hepburn later this year.

Other recommended biographies of amazing women include:

• Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois by Amy Novesky and Isabelle Arsenault. For ages 5 and up.
• Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer by Fiona Robinson. For ages 5 and up.
• Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark and April Chu. For ages 5 and up.
• Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World by Laurence Anholt. For ages 4 and up.
• Me… Jane by Patrick McDonnell. For ages 4 and up.

In addition to biographies about individuals, there’s a slew of great collections that bring together a diverse range of women to admire. These are wonderful for dipping into different fields of excellence, and widening ideas about future careers, achievements, goals, principles and priorities.

The Australian book Amazing Babes was originally written by Eliza Sarlos for her young son’s birthday, and her ideas soon expanded to include illustrator Grace Lee. The book features 21 women, including public figures as diverse as Aung San Suu Kyi, Malala Yousafzai, Miles Franklin, Kathleen Hanna and Gloria Steinem. For ages 6 and up.

We’re also looking forward to getting our hands on Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli, which started life as a very, very successful Kickstarter project. The book features 100 fairytale-inspired bedtime stories about 100 inspiring women, each one illustrated by female artists. Subjects include Serena Williams, the Brontë sisters, Joan Jett, Queen Elizabeth I, Amna Al Haddad, Jane Goodall, Hillary Clinton and Virginia Woolf. One of our staff members is in the process of reading one story a night to her daughter, and they’re both thoroughly enjoying the shared experience. For ages 5 and up.

Other illustrated anthologies that feature a range of admirable women include:

• Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky. For ages 10 and up.
• Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World by Kate Pankhurst. For ages 6 and up.
• 100 Women Who Made History. For ages 8 and up.
• Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl. For ages 8 and up.

A good picture book can encourage young readers to expand their ideas about what’s possible for both genders, and start discussions about equity. One of my favourites, I’m a Girl by Yasmeen Ismail, is a colourful, splashy, stompy, exuberant celebration of a donkey-girl who likes to run fast and win and be loud and who eventually befriends a hedgehog-boy who enjoys wearing a skirt.

Here are our favourite stories that model an equitable approach to gender:

• Peggy by Anna Walker
• The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch
• Rosie Revere, Engineer and Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
• Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen
• Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

And something extra for teens…

If you’d like to encourage older readers to engage with this subject, check out our collection of feminist reads for teens.

This collection includes recommended fiction titles, such as Fiona Wood’s Wildlife, and non-fiction titles, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay We Should All Be Feminists. Or for an eye-opening intersectional look at being a woman, pick up the Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean anthology, a cross-cultural collaboration between Indian and Australian authors and illustrators.

Leanne Hall