Rise: A Feminist Book Project, formerly known as the Amelia Bloomer Project and compiled by the American Library Association, is an annual list of books with significant feminist content that are intended for readers from birth to age 18. The Amelia Bloomer Project was started in 2002 and continued annually until the name change in 2020. Rise is unique from other book lists in that it selects books based on content.
Researchers, librarians, and educators have used the list to recognize and select books with feminist content for young people.
History The American Library Association's Feminist Task Force (FTF) of the Social Responsibilities Round Table initiated an annual curation of the top feminist books in 2002 to promote "quality feminist literature for young readers". The FTF chose to name the project after Amelia Bloomer, "an American writer and newspaper editor who campaigned for temperance, women's rights, and dress reform."
In 2020, the FTF decided to rename the annual book list to Rise: A Feminist Book Project. The name change came after the FTF learned that Amelia Bloomer "refused to speak against the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850". The committee stated that "librarians and libraries must work to correct social problems and inequities with particular attention to intersectionality, feminism, and deliberate anti-racism". This belief prompted the 2020 name change.
Criteria The judges consider both fiction and nonfictional, as well as illustrated books that have been published in the previous 18 months.
Every year, books are judged based on three main criteria:
Significant feminist content Directed toward readers between ages 0 to 18 Literary and artistic merit
The books selected for the project fall into six categories based on target audience and genre: Early Readers Fiction and Nonfiction, Middle Grade Fiction and Nonfiction, and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction.
Impact In 2016, Kimberly Campbell Kinnaird selected 27 historical fiction novels from the Amelia Bloomer Project to "examine authenticity and empowerment" using "Boreen's three stages of historical authenticity (1999) and Brown and St. Clair's three levels of female empowerment (2002)". Kinnaird's study found the books highly correlated with "female protagonists' authenticity and empowerment." The books included female characters that acted "courageously within society's bounds," defied "society for personal ambition," and acted "as a catalyst for change."
Honorees The American Library Association's Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table selects books annually for Rise: A Feminist Book Project in six categories based on target audience and genre: Early Readers Fiction and Nonfiction, Middle Grade Fiction and Nonfiction, and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction.
The following lists the top ten books between 2013 and 2021. Before 2013, the Feminist Task Force did not select the top ten books. +RISE: Top Ten (2013-2021)YearAudienceGenreTitleAuthor2013Early ReadersNonfictionIn the Bag!: Margaret Knight Wraps It Up, illus. by David ParkinsHeart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President, illus. by Steve JamesDolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers with Robert Casilla (Illus.)Young AdultFictionWomanthology: HeroicVariousCode Name VerityNonfictionKing Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village and Eleanor HermanRookie Yearbook One (editor)Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond with Lanier Scott IsomA Little F'd Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word2014Early ReadersNonfictionGlobal Baby GirlsGlobal Fund for ChildrenFlying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America's Heart, illus. by Malene R. LaugesenBrave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 with Melissa Sweet (Illus.)Middle GradeProfiles: Freedom HeroinesYoung AdultHowever Long the Night: Molly Melching's Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls TriumphDouble Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War IIThe Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the WorkplaceI am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban with Christina LambWhat Will It Take to Make a Woman President?Rookie Yearbook Two (editor)2015Early ReadersFictionA Pair of Twins, illus. by Nayantara SurendranathNonfictionEvery Day Is Malala Day with Plan InternationalMiddle GradeFictionHiddenNonfictionA Woman in the House (and Senate): How Women Came to the United States Congress, Broke Down Barriers, and Changed the Country, illus. by Elizabeth BaddeleyBecause I Am a Girl: I Can Change the World with Plan InternationalI Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World: Young Readers Edition with Patricia McCormickYoung AdultFictionMy Notorious LifeTomboy: A Graphic MemoirMs. Marvel: No Normal, illus. by Adrian AlphonaNonfictionSally Ride: America's First Woman in Space2016Early ReadersFictionDrum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music, illus. by Rafael LópezNonfictionSwing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, illus. by Joe CepedaMiddle GradeVoice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, illus. by Ekua HolmesSally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in SpaceYoung AdultFictionThe Boston GirlDevotedNonfictionWe Should All Be FeministsNotorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Shana KnizhnikThe Born Frees: Writing with the Girls of Gugulethu and African American Women: Photographs from the National Museum of African American History and Culture2017Early ReadersNonfictionI Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, illus. by Elizabethe BaddeleyAda Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer, illus. by Jessie HartlandYoung AdultFictionBurn Baby BurnExit, Pursued by a BearThe Lie TreeNonfictionBalcony on the MoonBecoming UnbecomingUnaTake It As a ComplimentTrainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear... and WhyWe Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out and Andrea L. Pino2018Early ReadersFictionHand Over Hand, illus. by Renné BenoitNonfictionMalala's Magic Pencil, illus. by KerascoëtShark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist, illus. by Marta Alvarez MiguensMiddle GradeFictionAhimsaYoung AdultNoteworthyPiecing Me TogetherSaints and MisfitsThe One Hundred Nights of HeroNonfiction#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women and Mary Beth Leatherdale (editors)Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time2019Early ReadersFictionSugar and Snails with Sonja WimmerMiddle GradeCrushAmal UnboundYoung AdultThe Poet XSpeak: The Graphic Novel, illus. by Emily CarrollDamselAs the Crow FliesLearning to BreatheBlood Water PaintNaondel2020Early ReadersFictionA Boy Like You, illus. by Kayla HarrenAt the Mountain's Base with Weshoyot AlvitreThe Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family, illus. by S.K. Ali and Hatem AlyNonfictionRise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou, illus. by Tonya EngelWhat Do You Do With a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, illus. by Ekua HolmesYoung AdultFictionForward Me Back to YouSurviving the City, Vol. 1 and Natasha DonovanThirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them AllWe Set the Dark on FireNonfictionShout2021Early ReadersNonfictionConsent (For Kids!): Boundaries, Respect, and Being in Charge of YouIt Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way, illus. by Julie MorstadRitu Weds ChandniRuth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, illus. by Eric VelasquezYoung AdultFictionClap When You LandRed HoodEvery Body LookingNonfictionSay Her NameKnow My Name: A Memoir2022Early ReadersFictionLaxmi's Mooch, illus. by Nabi H. AliThe Big Bath House, illus by Gracey ZhangNonfictionBodies Are CoolYoung AdultFictionFirekeeper's DaughterLast Night at the Telegraph ClubSistersongSo Many Beginnings: A Little Women RemixNonfictionDisability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First CenturyIf I Go Missing with Nahanni Shingoose and Neal Shannacappo (art)Somebody's Daughter2023Early ReadersFictionChild of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, Duncan Tonatiuh (art)El cuarto turquesa / The Turquoise Room, Adriana M. Garcia (art), Cinthya Miranda (translation)NonfictionYes! No!: A First Conversation About Consent, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas (art)Middle GradeFictionA Seed in the SunYoung AdultFictionVinyl MoonTJ Powar Has Something to ProveConfessions of an Alleged Good GirlThe BillboardNonfictionWell, That Was UnexpectedToufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement with Kim Pittaway2024Early ReadersFictionFlower Girl, Jameela Wahlgren (art)BigMy Powerful Hair, Steph Littlebird (art)NonfictionAutumn Peltier, Water Warrior, Bridget George (art)Middle GradeFictionBarely FloatingYoung AdultFictionSpinThe BlackwoodsI Kick and I FlyThe Moonlit VineAll the Fighting Parts2025Early ReadersNonfictionIda B. Wells Marches for the Vote, Jerry Jordan (art)Middle GradeFictionPlain Jane and the MermaidThe Beautiful GameFind HerNonfictionThe Race To Be Myself: Young Readers EditionYoung AdultFictionThe Judgment of Yoyo GoldBright Red FruitBlack Girl You Are Atlas, (art)Diary of a Confused FeministNonfictionThe Unboxing of a Black Girl2026Early ReadersFictionGirls on the RiseBrown Girl, Brown GirlNonfictionThe Black Mambas: The World's First All-Woman Anti-Poaching UnitUp, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the MountainsMiddle GradeFictionOllie In BetweenYoung AdultFictionOne Step ForwardEverything is PoisonTruth IsThe Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a TuesdayNonfictionLoudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (A Love Story)
References
External links Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0–18 official website