In a beautiful picture book brimming with G for Groundbreaking women, National Book Award nominee Rio Cortez and illustrator Lauren Semmer celebrate all the joys, challenges, and historic forward movement of women’s history in the United States, with a special focus on the Black women, brown women, transwomen, and others who make change happen. This is a book about Artists, Activists and Allies, about Civil Rights and Choice, about Freedom Fighters, Headliners, Labor -- and Librarians! It’s about historic moments—Kamala Harris being sworn in as the first African-American and first Asian-American Vice President of the United States; Title IX passing through Congress; Seneca Falls, where the first women’s rights convention was held; the Riot Grrrls movement; and so much more.
- Books
- Kids Nonfiction
- The ABCs of Women's History
The ABCs of Women's History
Author(s)
Publisher
Age Range
4+
Release Date
January 14, 2025
ISBN
978-1523523290
Buy This Book
From the New York Times bestselling creative team behind The ABCs of Black History comes a statement-making follow-up that celebrates women, their history, and their future by centering the diversity of the disruptors who blazed a path forward for everyone.
Editor reviews
2 reviews
The ABCs of Women's History
(Updated: June 07, 2026)
Overall rating
4.7
Writing Style
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
5.0
Learning Value
4.0
What worked: Bright, colorful book that poetically celebrates Women's History. The illustrations are modern and draw readers right in. I especially loved how this picture book uses all 26 letters of the alphabet in its celebration with not only important women figures in modern history, but also uses positive, empowering affirmations.
Some important women figures include the first women Supreme Court justices, including recent Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black Woman on the court. Kamala Harris. Title IX with women's athletics like the Williams sisters, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Chloe Kim. Suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, and Fannie Lou Hamer.
There's so many great things about this picture book that include shout-outs to current political issues like N is for No. Never again. We are not going backwards.
More details on the terms and figures mentioned are found at the end of the book. This is a great source for doing further research.
Positive, empowering picture book that is sure to be a great addition to any classroom, personal library.
Some important women figures include the first women Supreme Court justices, including recent Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black Woman on the court. Kamala Harris. Title IX with women's athletics like the Williams sisters, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Chloe Kim. Suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, and Fannie Lou Hamer.
There's so many great things about this picture book that include shout-outs to current political issues like N is for No. Never again. We are not going backwards.
More details on the terms and figures mentioned are found at the end of the book. This is a great source for doing further research.
Positive, empowering picture book that is sure to be a great addition to any classroom, personal library.
Good Points
1. Bright, colorful book that celebrates Women's History
Inclusive and Wide Ranging History Book
(Updated: June 07, 2026)
Overall rating
4.0
Writing Style
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
4.0
Learning Value
4.0
Not content to list just one person, event, or term per alphabet letter, Rio Cortez (The ABCs of Black History) takes a deep dive into history and fourth wave feminism in this rhyming picture book. Appropriately, under BOOKS we see several different authors, including Joan Didion, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Maya Angelou, and continue all the way through to Zora Neal Huston's zeal. Some of the concepts are more abstract, like "knowledge" and "dreaming", but other letters get more concrete examples, like the very necessary addition of Ms. Magazine. A wide range of historical figures and movements is covered.
Good Points
t the end of the book, there is a very complete listing of all of the topics covered arranged under each letter, so the people are given dates and a brief of their activities and influences. Movements, events, and terms relating to women's history are also explained. This makes the book much more useful for research, since the entries give young readers enough details to use to locate more complete discussions of the topics.
The entries are all very poetic, usually employing meter and an almost Emily Dickinso partial rhyme scheme. I can see this being a popular read aloud choice for Women's History Month.
The illustrations are striking and modern, as well as very colorful. The people portrayed are very diverse, with different ethnicities, body types, and identifications. There is definitely a very modern, updated sensibility in the approach to feminism.
Collective biographies are always a great way to introduce readers to a variety of people of whom they may never have heard. Have The ABCs of Women's History available all year long, but especially in March, for readers who enjoyed Colors of Awesome!: 24 Bold Women Who Inspired the World Chen and Desierto, Stand Up!: 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change by Cooper and Johnson, 101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Adams and Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Hood, Blackall, and Martin.
The entries are all very poetic, usually employing meter and an almost Emily Dickinso partial rhyme scheme. I can see this being a popular read aloud choice for Women's History Month.
The illustrations are striking and modern, as well as very colorful. The people portrayed are very diverse, with different ethnicities, body types, and identifications. There is definitely a very modern, updated sensibility in the approach to feminism.
Collective biographies are always a great way to introduce readers to a variety of people of whom they may never have heard. Have The ABCs of Women's History available all year long, but especially in March, for readers who enjoyed Colors of Awesome!: 24 Bold Women Who Inspired the World Chen and Desierto, Stand Up!: 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change by Cooper and Johnson, 101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Adams and Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Hood, Blackall, and Martin.
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