Collection: Shop Woman

Discover the inspiring tales of kick-ass girls in this empowering collection of classic children's tales, retold by multi-award winning author Anita Ganeri.

Showcasing narratives that celebrate strong, independent women, these fairy tales contain heroines that aren't reduced to being wives or witches! Instead they run free and possess the qualities we would hope for in our daughters and friends: self-confidence, strength, wits, courage, fearlessness, and independence. They live freely, happily ever after, without restraint or narrowly defined roles.

These stories include:
- Atalanta the Huntress (Greece)
- Nana Miriam (Niger)
- Fitcher's Bird (Germany)
- The Girl and the Puma (Argentina)
- Li Chi Slays the Serpent (China)
- Brave Woman Counts Coup (US/White River Sioux)
- Mizilca (Romania)
- The Pirate Princess (Poland/Jewish)
- The Samurai Maiden (Japan)
- Molly Whuppie (England)

Accompanied by magical illustrations, these stories will capture the hearts and minds of young readers everywhere.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Publishing's Inspiring Heroines series retells classic children's stories, showcasing strong female protagonists who strike out against adversity and smash stereotypes. Featuring enchanting full-colour illustrations by Khoa Le, these empowering tales will inspire young readers to dream big.

This is a powerful story about a young girl who lets nothing stop her. Brooklyn was born with a limb difference and is determined to do everything just like everyone else. We call her special hand her lucky fin just like in the movie Nemo who was born with one small weak fin, but he quickly finds out it is his " lucky fin." Brooklyn was made this way and her difference makes her special! Brooklyn is fierce, strong, and charismatic. The purpose of this story is to show that no matter what a person looks like, we are all the same. Everyone has differences and challenges; some you can see and some you cannot. Remember to build each other up and make everyone feel included, supported, and loved.



In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Maria Montessori, the pioneering teacher and researcher.

Maria grew up in Italy at a time when girls didn't receive an equal education to boys. But Maria's mother was supportive of her dreams, and Maria went on to study medicine. She later became an early childhood expert--founding schools with her revolutionary educational theories and changing the lives of many children. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the educator's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Now a knight errant, Alanna goes on a quest for a legendary jewel in this fourth and final book in Tamora Pierce's Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning young adult series--now with a new look!

Having achieved her dream of becoming the first female knight errant, Alanna of Trebond finds herself at loose ends. She has already triumphed in countless bloody battles, and her adventures are considered legendary. Perhaps being a knight errant is not all that Alanna needs... But Alanna must push her uncertainty aside when she is tasked with the impossible.

She must recover the Dominion Jewel, a legendary gem that has enormous power for good...in the right hands. And Alanna must work fast. Her archenemy, Duke Roger, is back and more formidable than ever, putting Tortall in great danger. As she puts her hard-won skills to use, Alanna discovers through fierce combat and ceaseless searching that she can make a future worthy of her mythic past--both as a warrior and as a woman.

From critically acclaimed, master thriller author Margaret Mizushima, comes the eighth installment of the award-winning Timber Creek K-9 mysteries.

"Tense and satisfying," (JA Jance) Standing Dead is the perfect read for fans of CJ Box and Longmire.

Deputy Mattie Cobb and her sister, Julia, travel to Mexico to visit their mother, but when they arrive, they discover that she and her husband have vanished without a trace. Back in Timber Creek, Mattie finds a chilling note on her front door telling her to look for "him" among the standing dead up in the high country.

The sheriff's department springs into action and sends a team to the mountains, where Mattie's K-9 partner, Robo, makes a grisly discovery--a body tied to a dead pine tree. Mattie is shocked when she realizes she knows the dead man. And then another note arrives, warning that Mattie's mother is in desperate straits. In a last-ditch gambit, Mattie must go deep undercover into a killer's lair to save her mother--or die trying.

Boldly lyrical and fiercely honest, Mahogany L. Browne's Chrome Valley offers an intricate portrait of Black womanhood in America. "We praise their names / & the hands that write / Praise the mouth that speaks," she writes in tribute to those who came before her.

Browne captures a quintessential girlhood through the pleasures and pangs of young love: the thrill of skating hip to hip at the roller rink, the heat of holding hands in the dark, and, sometimes, the sting of a palm across the cheek. Friendship, too, comes with its own complex yearnings: "you ain't had freedom / 'til you climb on bus 62 / & head to the closest mall / for a good seat at the girl fight."

Reflections of Browne's mother, Redbone, bolster the collection with moments of unwavering strength: "give me my mother's bone structure / & her gap tooth slaughter / give me her spine--Redbone got a spine for the world." Other moments explore the inherent anxieties shared among Black mothers, rhythmically intoning names like the tolling of a church bell: "Because Kadiatou Diallo / Because Sybrina Fulton / Because Valeria Bell / Because Mamie Till."

The characters in Chrome Valley grapple with the legacies of inherited trauma but also revel in the beauty of the undaunted self-determination passed down from Black woman to Black woman. Transcendent and grounded, funny and furious, Chrome Valley brings depth to a movement, solidifying Mahogany L. Browne as one of the most significant poetic voices of our time.

Hold You Down is an edgy novel from rising star Tracy Brown about the perils of love and the ties that bind...

New York City. Late 1980s to early 1990s.

Mercy and Lenox Howard have always only had each other. Growing up on the mean streets of Harlem with an absentee mother meant that they had to have each other's backs. Now young, smart mothers they are determined to survive in New York City while raising their two sons, who have bright futures ahead of them.

Mercy is the quiet, straight laced hospital administrator, struggling to make ends meet. At night and on weekends, she pours her heart into her cooking and her dream of owning her own restaurant. Lenox is the diva, the wild child, looking for excitement and her big come up in life and love. Their boys, Deon and Judah, have been raised more like brothers than cousins, forging a bond that is unbreakable.

When Lenox heads down a path that she believes will bring success and power, it changes the entire course of her life and her family's life forever. As a result of their mother's choices, cousins Deon and Judah soon find themselves in uncharted territory.

Welcome back to Grace Valley, California, where the best things in life never change...

Here in this peaceful community, folks look out for one another like family, though sometimes a little too well. In a town like this, it's hard to keep a secret--but Dr. June Hudson has managed to keep one heck of a humdinger....

Though visits from her secret lover, undercover DEA agent Jim Post, are as clandestine as they are passionate, somehow it fits with her demanding schedule as the town's doctor--a calling that requires an innate ability to exist on caffeine, sticky buns and nerves of steel.

But how can a secret lover compete with a flesh-and-blood heartthrob from her past? June's old flame has just returned to town after twenty years--and he's divorced. June is seriously rattled. So when the town's most devoted wife takes buckshot to her husband and some human bones turn up in her aunt Myrna's backyard, she's almost happy for the distraction.

Sooner or later, love will have its way in Grace Valley. It always does.

With this startling, exhilarating book of poems, which was first published in 1960, Sylvia Plath burst into literature with spectacular force. In such classics as "The Beekeeper's Daughter," "The Disquieting Muses," "I Want, I Want," and "Full Fathom Five," she writes about sows and skeletons, fathers and suicides, about the noisy imperatives of life and the chilly hunger for death. Graceful in their craftsmanship, wonderfully original in their imagery, and presenting layer after layer of meaning, the forty poems in The Colossus are early artifacts of genius that still possess the power to move, delight, and shock.

A memoir about friendship, gender, bullies, growth, punk rock, and the power of the perfect outfit . . .

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, but she wasn't exactly one of the guys either (as she learned when her little league baseball coach exiled her to the distant outfield). She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, the middle wasn't an easy place to be.

Tomboy follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores--with humor, honesty, and poignancy--what it means to "be a girl." From staunchly refuting "girliness" to the point of misogyny, to discovering through the punk community that your identity is whatever you make of it, Tomboy offers a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking account of self-discovery in modern America.

"Liz Prince may have been an uncertain, confused kid, but she's a confident and sincerely expressive cartoonist. Tomboy is a funny and relatable look at what every child has to deal with at some point -- figuring out who you really are inside, when everyone else only sees what they think you should be on the outside."--Jeffrey Brown, author of Clumsy, Jedi Academy, and Darth Vader and Son

"Liz Prince portrays the awkwardness and humiliation of childhood with wonderful (not to mention painful) accuracy. Any kid that picks up this book is going to be privy to secrets most of us don't learn until it's too late, and any adult who reads it will be reminded of an essential truth: that it's okay to be exactly who we want to be, no matter how weird everyone else thinks we are. Tomboy isn't a self help book, but it should be."--Julia Wertz, author of Drinking at the Movies and The Infinite Wait

"It's hard to imagine anyone failing to be charmed by this entertaining, clever, and genuinely funny memoir of growing up with gender identity confusion. Even this pretty unconfused regular old dude found plenty to identify with in Liz Prince's story of adolescent bafflement, exploration, and discovery -- delivered, like all the best such stories, with a light touch, wry wit, understated irony, and not one iota of preachiness. Meaning: I'm a fan. Go Liz!"--Frank Portman, author of King Dork

"Liz Prince tells gender norms to eat dirt. A delightful, thoughtful, and compulsively readable memoir. And an important one."--Ariel Schrag, author of Adam and Potential

Something Borrowed is the smash-hit debut novel from Emily Giffin for every woman who has ever had a complicated love-hate friendship. The basis for the blockbuster movie starring Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, and John Krasinski!

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way.

As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

A fiery, inclusive guide for activists and witches alike, Revolutionary Witchcraft is an empowered introduction to the history and practice of politically-motivated magic.

From the politically charged origins of the word "witch" to the present-day magical resistance, this bold handbook explores the role of witchcraft in our modern world. Author, activist, and practicing witch Sarah Lyons takes readers on a journey through a leftist history of magic -- from the witch hunts of early modern England, through the Salem Witch Trials, and up to our present moment. Pairing mystical acts, including sigil magic and soul flight, with core organizing tactics, like power mapping and protests, Revolutionary Witchcraft offers a blueprint for building a politically grounded magical praxis.

From social justice to environmental activism, this radical reimagining of political activism addresses today's most pressing problems with empowering, inclusive rituals and magical actions. Each chapter introduces a key concept, like dreaming big, experiencing magical initiation, and joining the revolution, supported by a galvanizing historical case study on the power of mystical action. Full of actionable ideas for magical organizing, and an appendix packed with customizable spells, Revolutionary Witchcraft is the perfect companion for the magical uprising.

"Smith's thrilling cultural insights never overshadow the wholeness of her characters, who are so keenly observed that one feels witness to their lives." --O, The Oprah Magazine

"A sweeping meditation on art, race, and identity that may be [Smith's] most ambitious work yet." --Esquire

A New York Times bestseller - Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction - Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

An ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from North West London to West Africa, from the multi-award-winning author of White Teeth and On Beauty.

Two brown girls dream of being dancers--but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.

Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.

But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey--the same twists, the same shakes--and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.

Zadie Smith's newest book, Grand Union, published in 2019.

A tender and quirky novel about the romantic choices we make from the author of the New York Times Bestseller and Reese's Book Club Pick, The Last Thing He Told Me

Emmy Everett is reluctantly heading home to New York for her brother Josh's wedding. She has spent the last three years in a fishing town in Rhode Island and, having little to show for it, she doesn't particularly want to answer the questions she is sure to face about her (ex)-fiance, her (questionable) career choices, her (unknown) future. But she is still shocked when her typically resolute brother Josh confesses he is having doubts about his imminent marriage - and he asks Emmy the hardest question of all: what do I do now?

With seventy-two hours until the wedding, Emmy embarks with Josh on a road trip to help him find a mystery woman, and to answer some long overdue questions about who he wants to spend his life with. It isn't only Josh who has some lessons to learn. Along the way, Emmy discovers some undeniable truths about what she wants from her own life; and she begins to realize that perhaps her own happy ending is not as far away as it seems.

A Horn Book selection for "Picture Book Biographies for Women's History Month 2022"

Fatima had one wish . . .

Fatima al-Fihri loved to learn. She wanted to know everything, like how birds flew, why the sky was blue, and how flowers grew. But more than anything, she wanted a school for all, where anyone could study and become whatever they wanted, like teachers, scientists, and doctors.

As she grew older, Fatima carried her one wish inside her, through good times and bad. Fueled by her faith and her determination, she worked hard to make her one wish come true. For over a thousand years, Fatima's one wish--her school--served students and scholars from around the globe, and it continues to do so today!

With lyrical text by M. O. Yuksel (author of In My Mosque) and stunning illustrations by Mariam Quraishi, this true-life portrait of an extraordinary Muslim woman shows the importance of never giving up on your dreams and how we all have the power to change the world for the better.

A 2023 BANK STREET BOOKS BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR!

AN ALA 2023 RISE: A FEMINIST BOOK PROJECT SELECTION!

A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022!

AN ORBIS PICTUS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NONFICTION FOR CHILDREN RECOMMENDED BOOK!

A 2023 NOTABLE SOCIAL STUDIES BOOK!

"This is a well-crafted picture book biography, especially given that so little is known of al-Fihri's early years. The focus on her legacy, as well as the back matter with time lines and translations, is a strong pull for readers. Who could not love a book about a girl whose first spoken word was "read"? Add this biography to any collection looking to be well rounded when it comes to women's history."--School Library Journal, starred review

"An inspiring profile of a tenacious trailblazer that highlights the power of knowledge. Quraishi's transporting gouache-and-watercolor illustrations furnish a nuanced portrayal of the early medieval Arab world." --Kirkus

"Advocating for persistence and education, this picture book adroitly demonstrates how al-Fihri's Muslim faith inspired her community care." --Publishers Weekly

"In a text rich with imagery, Yuksel (In My Mosque) tells the true story of Fatima al-Fihri, whose one wish was to build a school for all. The illustrations develop their own visual language. A welcome story that emphasizes the intellectual foundations of Islamic North Africa and the importance of charitable work that plants seeds for subsequent generations." --Horn Book

What's the best way to purge an unfaithful husband? Become a spy for British Intelligence, of course.

Desperate to get out of London, and determined to help the war effort and stop thinking about her philandering husband, Fiona Figg volunteers to go undercover.

At Ravenswick Abbey a charming South African war correspondent has tongues wagging. His friends say he's a crack huntsman. The War Office is convinced he's a traitor. Fiona thinks he's a pompous prig.

What sort of name is Fredrick Fredricks anyway? Too bad Fiona doesn't own a Wolseley pith helmet.

At Ravenswick a murderer is on the prowl, and it's not just the big-game hunter who's ready to pounce.