Our 5 Favorite Spanish Picture Books with Female Protagonists

As a mom of a toddler girl and toddler boy, I can't help but feel hopeful and inspired after seeing the swearing in of our country's first female Vice President last week. I hope that seeing Kamala Harris in the role of VP will help little girls and children of color to see themselves represented in important roles within our government. And I'm excited that our little boys will see women in such important roles and have that experience be normalized for them. Hoping this is just the beginning!

Thinking about this last week was a good reminder that I need to be more intentional about reading books with female and diverse protagonists to our littles. I went digging and pulled out some great books that have been out of rotation for a bit and brought them back. Hope this list might be helpful for you and yours as well! All of these books are probably best for ages 3+, but I still read them to our 2 year old - just with more skipping and summarizing. And a bonus is that they're all relatively easy to get hold of!

Daniela y las chicas pirata by Susanna Isern and Gómez

This is a fun story about a group of girl pirates who discover there's a new group of girl pirates in town. It starts with some friendly competition but ends with a wonderful and kid-friendly example of women supporting women! 

This is one of the books we've been sharing through the sharing library that we set up with Amber of Bilingual Bookshelf. A group of 8 families pitched in to buy 40 books, and we rotate them monthly. It's been such a life saver during this crazy year, and I'd love to expand this group. If anyone is interested in joining a book rotation, please shoot me a note or dm @lufiandfriends on instagram!

Ada Magnífica Científica by Andrea Beatty

I'm super impressed with this translation of Ada Twist, Scientist. While I admit that as a non-native speaker, I'm likely not the best judge, I have been impressed at how much of the rhyming is present in the Spanish translation. This particular one is super funny with a stinky sock storyline. Our son has really taken to the Preguntones series, and it's a super fun way to start talking about different interests and professions. The Preguntones series is so great in both English and Spanish. Sofia Valdez, Presidenta Tal Vez is another great one with an awesome main character. We love anything with rhymes, and the illustrations are beautiful and unique. We have yet to read Rosa Pionera, Ingeniera, but hoping to get our hands on it soon!

La Princesa Sara no Para by Margarita del Mazo and José Fragoso

I'm not busting out too many "anti-princess" books with our littles just yet because our littlest is pretty princess obsessed, but this book is a fun one from one of our favorite authors, Margarita del Mozo, that helps redefine what it means to be a princess. La Princesa Sara No Para is about a princess who won't sit still and can't be bothered with "traditional" princess things. Nevertheless, she gets her own happy ending!

El Día en Que Descubres Quien Eres by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López

I look forward to reading to this one to our kids as they get older and they can understand a bit more, but I think it's still a great one to introduce even at a young age.  It's such a powerful book about feeling different (whether it's because of your skin color or what your mom packed for lunch) and being brave. It totally tugs on my heart strings so I have to mentally prepare a little bit before reading it.

La Cocinera del Rey by Soledad Felloza and Sandra de la Prada López

This is a fun story about a girl who competes to become the top chef at the palace. As someone who uses cooking for others as a love language, I loved how this story speaks to the love that we put into the food that we make and how that has the power to transform moods.