I found this list in my sent mail folder. I compiled it for a fellow blogger in 2008, when she was looking for resources to improve the women’s history collection in the children’s section of her local library. Thought it might be useful to others, so here it is. I’ve added links, but I’ve resisted the temptation to add newer books or remove any that have since gone out of print. And needless to say, I haven’t read most of these, so inclusion below can’t be taken as an endorsement.
(Mostly Lesser-known) Women in (Mostly US) History: Books for Young Readers
This isn’t a systematic or comprehensive list, just a collection of cites I’ve stumbled upon while writing about women. Some are picture books, some are for more confident readers.–Best, Penny
Michael Bedard and Les Tait, The Clay Ladies (Tundra Books 2001).
Michael Bedard and Emily Arnold Mccully, The Divide (Doubleday Books for Young Readers 1997).
Michael Bedard and Barbara Cooney, Emily (Doubleday Books for Young Readers 2007).
Muriel M. Branch and Dorothy M. Rice, Pennies to Dollars: The Story of Maggie Lena Walker (Linnet Books 1997).
Don Brown, Dolley Madison Saves George Washington (Houghton Mifflin 2007).
Don Brown, Ruth Law Thrills a Nation (Houghton Mifflin 1995).
Don Brown, A Voice from the Wilderness: The Story of Anna Howard Shaw (Houghton Mifflin 2001).
Don Brown, Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel’s Journey to Lhasa (2002).
Don Brown, Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure (Houghton Mifflin 2000).
Don Brown, Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries (Houghton Mifflin 2003).
Don Brown, Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa (Houghton Mifflin 2003).
Penny Colman, Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II (Crown Books for Young Readers 2002).
Barbara Cooney, Eleanor (Viking Juvenile 1996).
Julie Cummins, Tomboy of the Air: Daredevil Pilot Blanche Stuart Scott (Harper Collins 2001).
Margery Facklam, Wild Animals, Gentle Women (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1978).
Dawn Fitzgerald and Catherine Stock, Vinnie and Abraham (Charlesbridge Publishing 2007)(an illustrated biography).
Kathleen Krull and David Diaz, Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman (Voyager Books, 2000).
Margo McLoone and Kathryn Besio, Women Explorers of the Mountains (Capstone Press 1999).
Nelda Patteson, Clara Driscoll, ‘Savior of the Alamo’: Her Life Story (Smiley Co. 1991).
Margaret Poynter, The Zoo Lady: Belle Benchley and the San Diego Zoo (Dillon Press 1980).
Maureen Stack Sappey, Letters from Vinnie (Calkin Creek Books 2007).
Sue Stauffacher, Bessie Smith and the Night Riders (Putnam Juvenile 2006).
Rosalyn M. Story, And So I Sing: African-American Divas of Opera and Concert (Harper Academic).
Linda Arms White and Nancy Carpenter, I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote (Farrar Strauss and Giroux 2005)
Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and Jacqueline Rogers, When Esther Morris Headed West: Women, Wyoming, and the Right to Vote (Holiday House 2001)
Della A. Yannuzzi, Wilma Mankiller: Leader of the Cherokee Nation (Enslow Publishers 1994).
Pennamite 