Twenty years ago when I began reviewing, I found few books which targeted young female readers. Those which showed females breaking out of stereotypical roles had wooden characters and didactic writing. New books for today's young women have heroines who are original, individual, and encompass all kinds of strengths. In the fairy tales, picture books, and non-fiction stories I read, the authors are more concerned with telling a story than proving a point.
Two new picture books boast unusual female protagonists. Ian Falconer has produced covers for The New Yorker and sets and costumes for the New York City Ballet, his first picture book and you can see his dramatic flair in his theatrical character,Olivia (Atheneum, $16.00; ages 4-adult).. Olivia is a determined, exuberant, talented, and exhausting six year old pig who has unique reactions to life's commonplace events.
Lauren Child's I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato(Candlewick Press, $15.99; ages 4-8) captures the sibling relationship of a feisty female and a nurturing older brother. Charlie keeps his eye on his little sister, Lola, who is particular, headstrong, and a very fussy eater. He encourages her appetite when he identifies carrots as "orange twiglets from Jupiter", and then Lola gobbles all the renamed legumes. Lola's character deepens when she points to a tomato and asks to taste a ripe "moon squirter". Then we see she has the intelligence, humor and creativity she admires in her big brother. The illustrations, a mix of whimsical drawings and clever collages, parallel the characters' creativity.
Two courageous women are the central figures in Patricia Polacco's The Butterfly (Philomel, $16.99; ages 9 and up). Polacco's longer picture book remembers her great aunt, Marcel Sollilage, and her daughter, Monique. Monique wakes one night to find a ghost in her room, but soon learns it is not a specter. She is a young Jewish girl who has been hidden with her parents in a secret section of Monique's basement to escape the Nazi's who have invaded France. Monique soon learns that her mother has concealed others and Monique shows a similar sensibility in her hatred of the Nazi's cruelty, and her desire to help her friend again experience a life as freed as a butterfly.
The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women (Little Brown, $21.95; ages 8 and up)was written and illustrated by a talented mother-daughter team; renown illustrator,Trina Schart Hyman and her daughter, Katrin Tchana. In locations all over the world, we see an array of strengths that are as diverse as the maidens who model them. Li Chi has the courage to face and slay a dragon to save her community, Nesoowa's love tames a cannibalistic evil creature, and Sister Lace's patience and commitment to teach bests the cruelty of a ruler. The eighteen stories blend bold lines and brave lives to make a magical, powerful book.
When I began reviewing, there was no such thing as a picture book biography. Two new titles focus on women. Shana Corey's You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! (Scholastic, $16.95; ages 5-8) tells of a young woman who cares less about being proper than fighting for the vote, beginning a newspaper to air her views, enjoying her work, and employing other women. A playful type set, fanciful illustrations and an animated text cavort across pages in a wild romp of a story about the woman who helped women begin to wear the pants in society!
Don Brown introduces an unusual English woman in Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00; ages 6-10). Kingsley grew up in isolation, caring for her mother and reading books from her father's library which taught her everything from home repair to the pleasures of world travel. At thirty, her parents are dead and Mary travels to Africa and Brown shows how her personality shines in a world full of exotic sights, sounds, and adventures. His soft watercolors contrast the tales of Mary's travels which are peppered with saucy quotes, humor and good spirit. When an eight foot crocodile tries to climb into her canoe, Mary clips him on the snout with her paddle and calls him as "a pushing young creature who had not learnt manners."
When I began reviewing books, the patriarchal view of history was beginning to be challenged with book of "herstory" Three new volumes of collected biographies add to this evolving genre. Catherine Thimmesh's writing is dynamic in Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00; ages 8 and up). Her writing matches the profiles of the dynamic dozen women who see a need and actualize an invention. In the 1930's, Ruth Wakefield hurriedly tossed bits of chocolate into a cookie to invent her famous Toll House cookies. Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary, had typing problems that led her to devise Liquid Paper. And eleven year old Alexia Abernathy conceived a spill proof bowl as a solution for a sloppy little boy.
Liza Ketchum profiles eight very different women in Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West (Little Brown, $18.95; ages 10 and up). and believes "each woman's legacy shines like a gold nugget in the dark waters of our past." Her biographies of women like Bethenia Owens-Adair who divorced an abusive husband to become the first female physician in the Pacific Northwest are filled with honest details that give a sense of time, struggles and strengths.
Penny Coleman's Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America (Scholastic, $18.95; ages 10 and up) shows her expertise as researcher and non-fiction writer. Through letters, journals, autobiographies and oral histories, she has reconstructed the lives of many women, known and unknown, who changed America history. Coleman creates a quilt of women's ingenuity, adventure, courage, and determination to make a difference.
When I began reviewing books there was no place for growing girls to seek advice. Now there are scads of books; here are some of the latest. New Moon Press, a company directed by an editorial board of 10-14 year old girls publishes two books with a female slant: New Moon: Writing and New Moon: Money (both from Crown, $9.99; ages 8-13) Margaret Blackstone and Elissa Guest shepherd girls through puberty with Girl Stuff: A Survival Guide to Growing up (HBJ, $8.95; ages 8-12) . Pleasant Company publishes School Smarts: All the Right Answers to Homework, Teachers, Popularity and More (American Girl, 8.95; ages 8-11) Alloy.com publishes a bound collection of e-mails with Fiona Gibb's advice to girls in My Mom Reads My e-mail, A Loser's Trying to Hook Up with Me, I Just Kissed My Best Friend's Boyfriend, and My Life Basically Sucks...any advice? (Penguin, $5.99).
Writing, characters, depth and variety in children's books for young women, like women themselves, have come a long way in two decades!