This post: 15 Fabulous Books to Inspire and Empower Teen Girls / Post Updated September 2023
Written by: Marybeth Bock
When you’re a teen girl living in today’s world, life can be overwhelming. Expectations are high, academic pressure, and the burden of trying to map out your future long before you’re ready can take its toll. And, we all know navigating friendships and romantic relationships surely has its share of ups and downs.
Pile on the heavy (often confusing) emotions that accompany growing up, and it’s easy to see why teen girls’ confidence typically takes a serious hit during adolescence. Sometimes, what we need more than anything are meaningful and inspiring messages to empower our girls and foster confidence and self-love. That’s why we rounded up a great group of books for teen girls that will give them the right words when they need it the most.
Words that will inspire them to dream, empower them to act, and encourage them to accept who they truly are.
Browse through these 15 fabulous books to help inspire and empower teen girls. You might find one that’s just right for your teen. Books like these are perfect to give for birthdays, holidays, graduations, or no occasion at all – just as a gift to your special girl to say, “I believe in you.” (Some of these would be great for teen guys, too!)
15 Fabulous Books to Inspire and Empower Teen Girls
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#1 The Teen Girl’s Survival Guide: 10 Tips for Making Friends, Avoiding Drama and Coping with Stress
Teen girls today feel pressure and stress from every direction. Having good, healthy relationships with friends they can count on makes all the difference. In this guide, psychologist and teen expert, Lucie Hemmen, offers ten tips to guide teens toward creating and maintaining the social life they want. Even better, the real experts that make this guide special are older teen girls who have recently been in your teen’s footsteps—and have plenty of wisdom to share.
#2 The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes and Female Firsts
From the foremothers who blazed trails and broke barriers to today’s women warriors from sports, science, cyberspace, city hall, the lecture hall, and the silver screen, The Book of Awesome Women paints 200 portraits of powerful and inspiring role models for women and girls poised to become superwomen of the future.
#3 Teenage Girl Power: Practicing Journaling and Mindfulness: The Power of Positive Mindset to Boost Your Confidence and Change Your Life
Is your teen feeling a little unsure about her direction in life? Will college be the right path for her? What about finding a career she’ll love? This is the book for any high school girl who is feeling overwhelmed about the future and all the choices she has to make to get there.
#4 Life Skills for Teens: How to Cook, Clean, Manage Money, Fix Your Car, Perform First-Aid, and Just About Everything In Between
New challenges seem to pop up almost daily for our teens. While the internet provides a wealth of knowledge, it can be overwhelming for them to navigate at times. Which of the countless articles about budgeting and saving money is actually accurate? They can ask us or other trusted adults to teach them specific skills, but sometimes they just want to figure it out on their own. That’s where this helpful guide comes into play.
#5 Teen Trailblazers: 30 Fearless Girls Who Changed the World Before They Were 20
Far too many teenagers think they can’t accomplish anything truly significant yet because they’re young and inexperienced. This fascinating book proves that thinking that way is simply wrong. Teen Trailblazers features 30 young women who accomplished remarkable things before their twentieth birthdays. Visually compelling with original illustrations, this book will inspire the next generation of strong, fearless women.
#6 Jumpstart Your Confidence and Boost Your Self-Esteem: A Guide for Teen Girls to Unleash Your Inner Superpowers to Conquer Fear and Self-Doubt and Build Unshakable Confidence
In this book, teen girls will learn how to tap into the power within themselves to eliminate fear and self-doubt, take control of their thoughts and feelings, feel comfortable in their own skin, create solutions to solve their problems, develop a positive and resilient mindset and go after what they want with courage and confidence. Filled with real-life examples and step-by-step instructions.
#7 Teen Girl’s Survival Guide (Amazon Best-Seller!)
There is nothing quite as challenging as being a teenage girl. From learning to love yourself and exude confidence to perfecting your personal hygiene routine, dealing with friendships, and handling the many bodily changes you may experience, The Teen Girl’s Survival Guide consists of everything you need to get through these difficult years.
#8 Stand Beautiful: A Story of Brokenness, Beauty and Embracing it All
Has your teen daughter ever been bullied or betrayed by a friend? Are they critical of who they see in the mirror every day? Born with a clubfoot and enduring intense physical and emotional pain because of it, international speaker, TEDx speaker, and anti-bullying author Chloe Howard will help any girl overcome the pain and struggles in her own life, acting as a friend alongside them on their journey to accepting their unique self.
#9 The Self-Esteem Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help You Build Confidence and Achieve Your Goals (Therapist Recommended!)
This book will help your teen learn how to develop a healthy, realistic view of herself that includes honest assessments of her weaknesses and strengths. She’ll also learn to respect herself, her faults, and the difference between self-esteem and being self-centered, self-absorbed, or selfish, and how to distinguish the outer appearance of confidence from the quiet, steady, inner acceptance and humility of true self-esteem
#10 Because I Was a Girl: True Stories for Girls of All Ages
Because I Was a Girl is an inspiring collection of true stories by women and girls about the obstacles, challenges, and opportunities they’ve faced because of their gender. Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz, the book is the perfect gift for girls of all ages to celebrate the accomplishments of these women and girls who overcame adversity with their limitless potential.
#11 Stuff that Sucks: A Teen’s Guide to Accepting What You Can’t Change and Committing to What You Can
Does your teen girl seem to be experiencing more days with an attitude of “everything sucks?” Life can feel that way pretty often when you’re a teenager. Stuff That Sucks offers a compassionate and validating guide to accepting emotions, rather than struggling against them. With this book as their guide, teen girls will learn to prioritize their thoughts, feelings, and values. They’ll figure out what they care about the most, and then start caring more as they realize what truly matters in life.
#12 The ABC’s of LGBT+: Gender Identity Book for Teens, Teen & Young Adults
With in-depth definitions, personal anecdotes, helpful infographics, resources, and more, this book lets readers know that it really does get better when we are empowered by information and understanding. In the author’s words, “This book is also for allies and LGBT+ people simply looking to pack in some extra knowledge . . . a critical part of acceptance. Learning about new identities broadens our understanding of humanity, heightens our empathy, and allows us different, valuable perspectives.”
#13 You Can Be Whatever You Want, Girl!
This empowering book will remind every teen girl that there’s a world of possibilities out there just waiting for her. Helpful tips will assist her in finding her strengths and how to use different kinds of resources available to her. She’ll learn how to develop both long-term and short-term goals, and how to break down overwhelming goals into small tasks—and achieve them! —with the awesome “MAKE IT HAPPEN” tool.
#14 I Am Malala
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. In 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price when she was shot in the head while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, her miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey. At 16, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. This book will make your teen believe in the power of one girl’s voice to change the world.
#15 Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big & Believe in Yourself
For every teen girl who’s passionate about sports… the evidence is overwhelming. Sports help girls grow into strong women. Both scientific studies and anecdotal evidence confirm that athletic girls not only grow up to be healthier; they learn teamwork, gain inner confidence, and grow into society’s leaders. Yet no one is speaking directly to these girls. Jennie fills the role of girlfriend, big sister, team captain, and mentor. A smart, credible, and accomplished voice from an athlete who is strong and feminine, fiercely competitive, and fashionably cool, Jennie’s message is: Believe in yourself. Go for it, girls.
Marybeth Bock, MPH, is a Mom to two young adults and one delightful hound dog. She has logged time as a military spouse, childbirth educator, college instructor, and freelance writer. She lives in Arizona and thoroughly enjoys research and writing – as long as iced coffee is involved. Her work can be found on numerous websites and in two books. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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