Women of Power Titles

NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students Winner, 2022
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Award, Fall 2022

These 15 women work with animals on land, air, and sea.

Corina Newsome is saving seaside sparrows while Michelle LaRue uses satellites to study Antarctic birds. Lizzy Lowe takes on what many fear in researching spiders, and Erin Ashe lives out the dream of many studying dolphins and whales. Kristen Hecht chases the elusive hellbender amphibian while Enikö Kubinyi uses robots to get information on wolf pups.

These women are working on issues that intersect with biodiversity, species conservation, biology, and more. They stand out for their work in their fields and are also dedicated to science communication to share their knowledge with others. They challenge the assumptions of who a scientist is and what a scientist looks like.

These diverse, modern women are pushing the boundaries of their scientific fields while empowering others to pursue their dreams.

In Hollywood, women don’t have to be in front of the cameras to shine.

Each of the 15 women profiled in Film Makers share a common trait: she is, as Shonda Rhimes says, “First. Only. Different.”

These phenomenal women have redefined the film and television industry, winning awards historically given to a male counterpart, being the only woman in a writers' room, or portraying stories no one else could tell.

While their resumes are impressive, it is how they live their lives that has made a greater impact in the communities they serve.

Food is a great unifying force on Earth.

Not only do humans need food to survive, it also gives structure to our days, offers dining and recreational opportunities, provides employment, and speaks to important societal issues such as food security, hunger, and nutrition.

Women and food make a dynamic duo. These 15 hardworking, innovative, and accomplished women have made great strides in the field of food, whether it’s coming up with meals for astronauts to eat in space, operating a 20-acre farm, hosting a food podcast, or fighting for food rights.

Women have always been instrumental in providing nourishment for their families and communities, and they are often at the forefront of this ever-changing global industry.

These 15 women are stellar in their food industry roles as farmers, chefs, food activists, food storytellers, and food scientists.
 

These 15 women fly outside the lines.

Soar beside Black Hawk helicopter pilot turned politician Tammy Duckworth, hot air balloonist Edgora McEwan, or medevac pilot Dede Murawsky. Higher up, meet commercial and military aviators such as the Coast Guard’s Ronaqua Russell, the first African American female to receive the prestigious Air Medal for her rescue efforts during Hurricane Harvey.

Next, ride along with Tammie Jo Shults, whose story includes a harrowing catastrophic engine failure while in command of 148 people aboard Southwest’s Flight 1380. Others share their experiences in military high-performance jets, the Stratotanker, or while flying for the Blue Angels.

Reaching past the bounds of Earth are astronauts who have launched in the cramped Russian rocket, the Soyuz, orbited Earth while conducting critical science experiments, or lived aboard the International Space Station.

In all cases, the women in this book faced obstacles. Throughout their rise to incredible accomplishment, these courageous go-getters persevered and endured, insisting on success. Ultimately, each succeeded on her path to flight.
 
These diverse high-flyers are dreamers and doers who believed, despite the odds, that soaring is possible.  
 

Entrepreneurship can change your life—and even the world
 
Idea Makers shares the incredible stories of 15 women who changed the world through their entrepreneurship. Author Lowey Bundy Sichol presents five industries that women are leading in recent years: food, fashion and clothing, health and beauty, science and technology, and education.
 
Jenn Hyman brought couture fashion to everyday women with her idea to Rent the Runway. Morgan DeBaun supports Black journalists through Blavity. And Sandra Oh Lin is inspiring kids everywhere with KiwiCo activity boxes.
 
Readers learn about how the women featured risked their early careers, gave up their salaries, and sometimes even went against the approval of their families to follow their passions and start their own businesses. Today, these women are modern leaders worth billions of dollars and employing tens of thousands of individuals.
 
Young women today are embracing innovation and idea making, and the women profiled in Idea Makers will show them how that can change the world.
 

Nothing moves us like music. 
Music Mavens transports readers around the world (and beyond)—to a jazz performance in Genoa, an instrument lab in London, a Tokyo taiko dojo, a New York City beatbox battle, and even a film scoring session aboard the starship Enterprise, to name a few. Along the way, it spotlights artists whose work spans musical genres and industry roles, including composing and songwriting, performing and conducting, audio engineering, producing, and rock photography.
In Music Mavens, 15 extraordinary women reveal how they turned their passions into platforms and how they use their power to uplift others. 
Their musical resumes will inspire, but the way each artist lives her life is the real story.

When engineers are faced with an impossible problem, they don’t quit. They look for solutions.

These 15 women are coders and engineers who have faced impossible problems and found solutions. They are each doing amazing work in technical fields while facing unique challenges that are not equally faced by men. Some have faced work/life balance offsets and long-distance relationship challenges. Others have faced teen pregnancy, homelessness, and domestic abuse. Many may have not had the same technical encouragement growing up that their male colleagues had. 

Science has typically been considered a man’s field of study. There are all sorts of reasons why this is the case, though none of them is valid in today’s society. Women can and should be anything they want to be. 

Problem solving with science and math is everyone’s field, and it’s time for the world to see powerful women succeeding in it.

Sharing perspectives on their journeys into the physical sciences, these heroes provide readers with advice about overcoming adversity.
 
Quake Chasers: 15 Women Who Rock Earthquake Science explores the lives of 15 diverse, contemporary female scientists with a variety of specialties related to earthquake science.
 
Dr. Debbie Weiser travels to communities post-disaster, such as Japan and China, to evaluate earthquake damage in ways that might help save lives during the next Big One. Geologist Edith Carolina Rojas climbs to the top of volcanoes or searches barren deserts for volcanic evidence to measure seismic activity. Geophysicist Lori Dengler works with the National Weather Service and provided guidance to counties after the 2011 tsunami.
 
With tenacity, intellect, and innovation, these women have crushed obstacles in society, in the lab, and out in the field. Their accomplishments leave aftershocks as they work toward revealing answers to the many riddles that lie behind earthquakes, saving lives by teaching us how to prepare for these terrifying disasters.
 
Young scientists can take away inspiration and advice on following their own dreams like these inspiring women.