A selected list of notable fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels for young adults about women's history and experience, chosen by LAPL librarians.
Afar
Alebrijes
Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture—And What We Can Do About It
Assata : an autobiography
Audacity
Bee and Puppycat, Vol 1
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World
A graphic novel that is a compendium and retelling of stories about strong women throughout history. Some are famous, some infamous and some ought to be famous. Fabulous gift for those needing an uplifting book about women’s history.
A Bride's Story, Vol. 1
Graphic novel that details the daily life of a young woman, Amir, in early 19th Century Turkey.
Climbing free : my life in the vertical world
Code name Verity
After two British girls, a pilot and a spy, crash their plane in Nazi-occupied France, the spy is captured and imprisoned by the Germans. She is forced to give up her secrets and reveal her mission in writing. Instead, she tells the story of her friend Maddie, the pilot of the crashed plane, whom she assumes is dead. But nothing can be assumed in this story, and nothing is as it seems.
The cure for dreaming
Far From the Tree
Three teens, who have the same biological mother, have always known that they were adopted, or were in foster care, but they did not know they had siblings. When Grace puts her own baby up for adoption, she searches out her biological family to ensure she made the right choice. Maya, the youngest sibling, has a great adopted family, with secrets. Joaquin, the oldest, who was never adopted, keeps to himself. Together the teens discover what family really means, and it’s not always conventional.
A Fierce and Subtle Poison
Goldie Vance: Volume 3
The good girls revolt : how the women of Newsweek sued their bosses and changed the workplace
Soon to be an Amazon series, Povich describes in an engrossing narrative the story of what happened to the women who worked for Newsweek in the 1970s before and after they banded together to sue the magazine for discrimination because they were systematically denied promotions and newsroom positions.
Great or Nothing
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World
Hunger makes me a modern girl : a memoir
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood up for Education and Changed the World
Learn the story of the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever, who risked her life to fight for the rights of girls in Pakistan to attend school. Malala was a young girl who would not be denied an education, despite being threatened by the Taliban, who shot her in the head. She lives in exile and continues to speak out for justice and human rights. In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Inheritance: A Visual Poem
Lakota Woman
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
This historical fiction is set in San Francisco, in 1954, when Chinese Americans and immigrants had to live under increased paranoia, racism, and suspicion for having Communist ideas. Lily is interested in discovering what’s outside her Chinatown home. Her parents warned her not to leave their immediate neighborhood, but Lily ventures forth to various places, such as the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar. This is where she slowly discovers herself and a relationship with her first white friend, Kathleen. All of this means that Lily may end up in dangerous situations and more than she bargained for.
Lean in : for graduates
Lies We Tell Ourselves
As one of the first African American students to attend Jefferson High School in 1959 Virginia, Sarah faces discrimination and abuse on a daily basis. When she and the white daughter of a rabid segregationist are forced to work together on a school project, however, the two girls begin to realize they have feelings for one another.
The lightning dreamer : Cuba's greatest abolitionist
Lucy and Linh
Lumberjanes / Gotham Academy
A madness so discreet
“Grace Mae knows madness . . . ” Set in 1890, readers plunge head-first into darkness with Grace Mae, a teenager who became pregnant, and at the whim of her father, was imprisoned in an insane asylum. After a chain of events at the asylum causes her to lose her child, a visiting doctor rescues her with an odd proposal: fake her death and become his crime-scene-investigating assistant. This YA historical novel is a piercing look at the madness in ourselves, and in others, and how we all must eventually face that madness. Beautiful and powerful in its delivery.
A Map for Wrecked Girls
A Million to One
Moxie
Inspired by her mother’s collection of Riot Grrrl memorabilia, Texan teen Vivian starts publishing an anonymous ‘zine in response to her school’s sexist dress code. As her ‘zine gains a following and becomes bigger than just herself, she and her friends find themselves using it to address harassment and assault issues.
Ms. Marvel: Vol. 8, Mecca
"Nice" Jewish Girls
The Nowhere Girls
Outrun the Moon
Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from poverty in Chinatown, and she gains admittance to a prestigious finishing school through a mix of cunning and bribery. She soon discovers that getting in was the easiest part, and must carve a niche among the spoiled heiresses. When the earthquake strikes on April 18, Mercy and her classmates are forced to a survivor encampment, but her quick-witted leadership rallies them to help in the tragedy's aftermath.
Radioactive!: How Irene Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World
Tells the story of two early 20th century female physicists whose groundbreaking contributions were overlooked in their lifetimes and are still largely unknown today despite shaping the field of nuclear science.
Sally Ride : a photo biography of America's pioneering woman in space
Salt the Water
She takes a stand : 16 fearless activists who have changed the world
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
Leila’s managed to get all the way to junior year without letting romance complicate her life, but when a beautiful new girl starts attending her school, Leila finds herself taking chances - and figuring out how to come out to her friends and family.
A tyranny of petticoats : 15 stories of belles, bank robbers & other badass girls
With stories written by various popular YA authors such as Marie Lu and Marissa Meyer, this collection follows fifteen extraordinary American women, from the 18th century colonial world of pirates and new discoveries to the tumultuous 1960s.
Under a painted sky
Two teenage girls - one of them Chinese American, the other African American - on the run from the law disguise themselves as boys and set out on the Oregon Trail in this tale of adventure and friendship set during the Gold Rush.
The Upside of Unrequited
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
We Are Okay
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. The book details Marin’s exploration of her sexuality and her complicated relationship with her best friend.
West with the night
When I was Puerto Rican
Esmeralda Santiago was one of eleven children who grew up in a tin-can of a house in Puerto Rico, surrounded by quarreling parents and poverty. While living in Brooklyn with her grandmother, Santiago's ambition and hard work resulted in a Harvard education, and a successful career as a writer and film producer.