Extraordinary women,
told as bedtime stories.
A queen who would not surrender. A teacher who carried a spare sari because people threw mud at her on the way to school. A girl from Karnal who looked at the sky and then went there. True stories, told gently enough for bedtime and honestly enough to be worth hearing.
The difficulty is left in. A child learns very little from a story in which somebody simply was great. They learn a great deal from one in which somebody was frightened, or poor, or laughed at, or told plainly that they could not — and went on anyway.
Not only for girls
It is worth being deliberate about this. A boy who grows up hearing about Mary Kom and Savitribai Phule alongside Rama and Hanuman grows up with a wider idea of what courage looks like. That is the whole point of the collection.
Women your child should know by name.
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Rani Laxmibai and the Horse Named Badal
The Queen of Jhansi who learned to fight, refused to surrender her kingdom, and rode into battle with her young son tied to her back. -
Savitribai's School
In 1848, when girls were not allowed to go to school, she walked through streets where people threw mud at her — just to teach girls to read. -
Kalpana Chawla: The Girl Who Touched the Stars
A girl in Karnal who looked up at the sky and dreamed, and became India’s first woman in space. She went twice. -
Mary Kom's Golden Fists
A girl from a village in Manipur with no money and no gym, who hid her boxing from her father and won eight World Championships. -
PT Usha and the Golden Feet
A frail girl from a Kerala village who ran barefoot on red mud because there were no shoes, and became the Payyoli Express. -
Indira and the Iron Will
A shy, lonely girl who grew up watching her father fight for India’s freedom, and went on to lead a billion people. -
Sudha Murthy: The Woman Who Gave Away Libraries
A girl from Karnataka who loved books, and built thousands of libraries for children across India. -
Sudha and the Wish Tree
The longer telling — the furious letter to a company chairman, the life savings given to someone else’s dream, and everything that came after.
And three from further away.
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Malala Yousafzai: The Girl Who Spoke for Every Child
A girl in Pakistan who loved school, spoke up when she was told girls could not go, and became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. -
Helen Keller: The Girl Who Learned to See with Her Heart
Blind and deaf as a baby, unable to speak — and, with a teacher called Annie, she reached the whole world anyway. -
Amelia Earhart: The Girl Who Flew Alone
Everyone said a woman could not fly the Atlantic alone. She went and did it.
If you only play one tonight.
Five or six? Kalpana Chawla: The Girl Who Touched the Stars. Three minutes, and the idea — a girl looked up, and then went — is simple enough to survive being sleepy.
Seven or eight? Savitribai’s School. Two minutes, and it is the one children ask questions about afterwards. Be ready for “but why weren’t girls allowed?”
Nine and up? Mary Kom’s Golden Fists or PT Usha and the Golden Feet. Both are about the long, dull middle of becoming good at something, which is the part children rarely hear about.
Briefly answered.
What are good stories about strong women for kids?
The ones where the difficulty is left in. A child learns very little from a story in which someone simply was great; they learn a great deal from one where somebody was frightened, or poor, or told no, and carried on. Rani Laxmibai, Savitribai Phule, Mary Kom and Malala all work this way.
Who was Savitribai Phule, explained for children?
India’s first woman teacher. In 1848, girls were not allowed to go to school, so she opened one. People threw mud and dung at her as she walked there, and she carried a spare sari to change into when she arrived. That detail is usually the one children remember.
What age are these stories right for?
They run from about five to twelve, and the range matters — Kalpana Chawla and Sudha Murthy are written for five to eight, while Indira, PT Usha and the longer Sudha Murthy telling are for seven to twelve. Each story says its own age range in the app.
Are these stories only for girls?
No, and it is worth being deliberate about that. Boys who grow up hearing about Mary Kom and Savitribai alongside Rama and Hanuman grow up with a wider idea of what courage looks like, which is the whole point.
More collections: Panchatantra & Birbal · When They Were Little · Baby Krishna · all collections