Are you looking for empowering feminist books for girls that will instill empathy and strength in your teen daughter or granddaughter? You’ve come to the right place!
Maybe you raised your teen on empowering books when she was a little girl, but as she gets older, it can be harder to find books that help her assert her independence. That’s why we’ve got this list of feminist non-fiction and fantastic novels that depict girls who persevere through challenging situations. What’s not to love about strong female characters? Not a thing!
Empowering Non-Fiction Books for Teens and Young Adults
Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterly
Shout by Laurie Halse Handerson
We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai
History vs. Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don’t Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian
You Don’t Have to Like Me by Alida Nugent
Novels Featuring Empowered Women and with Feminist Themes
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta & Cory McCarthy
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L Sánchez
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
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Non-Fiction Books About Empowered Women for Teens
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Book Details
- 240 pages
- Great for girls interested in STEM
- Features Black women mathematicians
This edition of Margot Lee Shetterly’s acclaimed book is perfect for young readers. It is the powerful story of four Black female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program.
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.
This book brings to life the stories of empowered women Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War.
It focuses on the movement for gender equality and these women whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country. A fantastic choice for feminist books for girls!
Shout by Laurie Halse Handerson
Book Details
- Poetry memoir
- 304 pages
- Reading age 14-17 years
- Grades 9+
Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault.
Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless.
In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before.
We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai
Book Details
- 224 pages
- 14 years and up
- Grade level 9+
Nobel Peace Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Malala Yousafzai introduces some of the people behind the statistics and news stories we read or hear every day about the millions of people displaced worldwide.
Malala’s experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement – first as an Internally Displaced Person when she was a young child in Pakistan, and then as an international activist who could travel anywhere in the world except to the home she loved.
In We Are Displaced, which is part memoir, part communal storytelling, Malala not only explores her own story, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her journeys – girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they’ve ever known.
History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don’t Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian
Book Details
- 144 pages
- Reading age 12-18 years
Rebels, rulers, scientists, artists, warriors and villains. Women are, and have always been, all these things and more.
Looking through the ages and across the globe, Anita Sarkeesian, founder of Feminist Frequency, along with Ebony Adams PHD, have reclaimed the stories of twenty-five remarkable women who dared to defy history and change the world around them.
From Mongolian princesses to Chinese pirates, Native American ballerinas to Egyptian scientists, Japanese novelists to British Prime Ministers, History vs Women will reframe the history that you thought you knew.
Featuring beautiful full-color illustrations of each woman and a bold graphic design, this standout nonfiction title is the perfect read for teens (or adults!) who want the true stories of phenomenal women from around the world and insight into how their lives and accomplishments impacted both their societies and our own.
You Don’t Have to Like Me by Alida Nugent
Book Details
- Collection of essays on growing up, speaking out, and finding feminism
- For older teens (and adults!)
- 240 pages
In this collection of essays, Nugent shares her discovery that feminism is an empowering identity to take on.
It’s okay to criticize beauty standards but still love dark lipstick, investing in female friendships is the most rewarding thing ever, and no woman should feel pressured to eat an “unseasoned chicken breast the size of a deck of playing cards” as every sad dinner for the rest of eternity.
From struggling with an eating disorder for most of her teen years to embracing all aspects of her biracial identity, she tackles tough topics with honest vulnerability making it a perfect option when you’re looking for feminist books for girls.
Novels Featuring Empowered Women and Feminist Themes
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Book Details
- 384 pages
- For ages 12-17
- Affectionately dubbed “the Nigerian Harry Potter”
Sunny Nwazue lives in Nigeria, but she was born in New York City. Her features are West African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in.
But once she befriends Orlu and Chichi, Sunny is plunged into the world of the Leopard People, where your worst defect becomes your greatest asset. Together, Sunny, Orlu, Chichi and Sasha form the youngest ever Oha Coven. Their mission is to track down Black Hat Otokoto, the man responsible for kidnapping and maiming children. Will their training be enough to help them combat a threat whose powers greatly outnumber theirs?
The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad
Book Details
- 416 pages
- Ages 12 and up
- Features BIPOC characters
Fatima lives in the city of Noor, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths weave their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen djinn slaughtered its entire population — except for Fatima and two other humans.
Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar. But when one of the most potent of the Ifrit dies, Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her.
Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield. Nafiza Azad weaves an immersive tale of magic and the importance of names; fiercely independent women; and, perhaps most importantly, the work for harmony within a city of a thousand cultures and cadences.
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Book Details
- 384 pages
- Grades 9 and up
- Focus on gender roles
At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society.
Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children, but both are promised a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class.
Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her bright future depends upon no one discovering her darkest secret—that her pedigree is a lie. Her parents sacrificed everything to obtain forged identification papers so Dani could rise above her station.
Now that her marriage to an important politico’s son is fast approaching, she must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society, where famine and poverty rule supreme.
On her graduation night, Dani seems to be in the clear, despite the surprises that unfold. But nothing prepares her for all the difficult choices she must make, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio.
Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or to give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?
Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta & Cory McCarthy
Book Details
- 368 pages
- Grade level 9-12
King Arthur as you’ve never seen her! This bold, sizzling YA novel reimagines the Once and Future King as a teenage girl determined to save the universe from an evil curse.
When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind. No pressure.
A King Arthur retelling with a female Arthur and a teenage Merlin. Set in the future. In space. Put this one on your feminist books for girls list post haste!
I know, that was my reaction at first too. But the diverse cast, page-turning antics and unexpected beauty had me hooked on this book and looking forward to the sequel.
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Book Details
- 400 pages
- Part one of a 3 part series
- Grade level 10-12
McKinney’s A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland… but it’s not the Wonderland you remember.
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she’s trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice’s handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she’ll need to use everything she’s learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head… literally.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Book Details
- 368 pages
- For Ages 14 and up
A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun. When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance.
As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane.
On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L Sánchez
Book Details
- National Book Award Finalist
- 368 pages
- For ages 14-17
- Features Latina women
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too.
Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out.
Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Book Details
- Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award
- 384 pages
- for ages 13-17 years
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.
With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Got a voracious reader in your life who has already zipped through all of these empowering feminist books for girls and looking for something more specific? Ask for more specific recommendations in the comments!
