Read like a girl: how children’s books of female stories are booming

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World are just two of a raft of inspirational titles changing bedtime reading

Studies in the past have found that children’s books are dominated by male characters, that history books are overrun by male authors writing about male figures, and that literary fiction is less likely to win a prize if it focuses on a female character.

A new wave of books aimed at children might just be doing its small bit to change that. Thousands of little girls – boys as well, but likely mainly girls – will be settling down for bed this evening with a new kind of bedtime story, one in which the heroines are not fictional, but real. From Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls to Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, sales of books about inspirational women have boomed this year – and look set to grow.

Related: The Guardian view on feminism and sci-fi: asking what if women ruled the world | Editorial

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