10 of the best feminist books for children
Published on: 17 October 2017 Author: Sally Nicholls
Author Sally Nicholls shares her favourite children's books to celebrate the publication of her story about the Suffragette movement: Things A Bright Girl Can Do.
1. Princess Smartypants
Babette Cole; Puffin
Princess Smartypants doesn’t want to get married – she wants to ride around on her motorbike doing whatever she wants and stay a Ms forever. Feminist fairytale retellings are rather old hat now, but this was one of the first, and one of the best.
2. Zog
Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler; Alison Green Books
Anyone with small children knows why Julia Donaldson is so well-loved and so popular. I can’t wait until my little boy is old enough to read this story of a princess who wants to be a doctor and the dragon who doesn’t want to roast her alive.
3. Little People, Big Dreams series
Eng Gee Fan, Isabel Sanchez Vegara and others; Frances Lincoln
Series of picture books documenting the lives women such as Frida Kahlo, Agatha Christie, Maya Angelou and Ella Fitzgerald. A nice mix of well-documented and more unusual names, with very simple storytelling making these accessible to young readers.
4. Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World
Kate Pankhurst; Bloomsbury
A lively picture book celebration of lots of really great women. Every primary school library should have this book.
5. Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lingren; Oxford University Press
Apparently, Sweden has more female MPs than anywhere except Rwanda, and they think it’s down to Pippi. She's the strongest girl in the world: as brave as a lion, as rich as a nine-year-old with an enormous chest of gold and as eccentric as… Well, let’s be honest, there’s really no one else like Pippi, is there? I have never wanted to be anyone as much as nine-year-old me wanted to be Pippi Longstocking.
6. Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls
Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo; Particular Books
Potted biographies of lots of great women – not just rebels (although many of them are), but scientists, writers, artists, politicians, etc. A great ethnic and historical mix too, and lots of women who did great things as children and teenagers.
7. Opal Plumstead
Jacqueline Wilson; Corgi
Jacqueline Wilson's historical novel about a young girl working in a sweet factory who becomes involved with the Suffragettes. I’m a big Jacqueline Wilson fan, so I’m certain you’re in safe hands here.
8. Hazel
Julie Hearn; Oxford University Press
When Hazel’s father takes her to the 1913 Epsom Derby, she doesn’t expect her life to be changed forever. But as she watches a Suffragette step in front of the King’s horse, so begins Hazel’s fight for justice – not just politically, but in her own family.
9. Until We Win
Linda Newbery; Barrington Stoke
Super-accessible YA novel, for teenagers with a reading age of eight, about a young girl who joins the Suffragette movement by Costa-award-winning Linda Newbery? Yes, please!
10. Sally Heathcote: Suffragette
Mary M Talbot, Kate Charlesworth, Brian Talbot; Jonathan Cape
Not technically a children’s book, but every secondary school library should have a copy of this graphic novel about Emmeline Pankhurst’s (fictional) maid. An accessible and meticulously researched introduction to Suffragette history.
Topics: Personal/social issues, Features
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