Page Turner Bibliography
Strong Women and Girls
By: Lori Z. Ragsdale
From Volume 3, Issue 2
Even in these days when women, at least in the U.S. and other developed countries, have gained more independence and strength, we still have to look hard for literature that features strong women who make good lives for themselves. As you can see in the following selections, many authors, especially women, are focusing their stories on girls and women who make a difference in the world. These books can help you build a girls’ library collection.
Transitional Readers
Barbara Jordan: African-American Politician
by Joseph D. McNair
Part of the Journey to Freedom series, this biography of Congressional Representative Barbara Jordan will show girls that there is a place in politics for women who are willing to work hard for their dreams. This book might be just what you need to launch a mock election in your program.
Bounce Back
by Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes tells her own story about reaching her life’s goals, with lessons on the importance of never giving up. Kids will learn about Swoopes’s gold-medal-winning career with the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team. Girls might be inspired to write about how persistence has paid off in their own lives.
Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings
by Deborah Hopkinson
This fictional picture book is based on the true story of 17-year-old Alta Weiss. In the early 1900s, Alta made it known that she loved to play baseball--and was great at it. She was the first woman to pitch for a semi-pro male team, the Vermillion Independents. If your afterschool program has sports activities, this book would make fun kick-off reading.
Love As Strong as Ginger
by Lenore Look
When Katie accompanies her grandmother to work one day, she sees how hard the older woman works at her job of cracking crabs--making money to live on and to send Katie to college some day. To pass the time and keep her mind off the hard work, Grandmother GninGnin pretends she is a famous actress making a movie. Perhaps some of the mothers and grandmothers of the children in your program could visit as a follow-up activity to tell the kids about their jobs.
Not One Damsel In Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls
by Jane Yolen
All 13 folktales in this collection have strong female heroines as their focal point. Girls, especially, will enjoy this slant on females who do not need a Prince Charming to rescue them. After reading some or all of these stories, your kids might write and illustrate their own tales of strong girls.
The Secret School
by Avi
When the teacher leaves a month before the end of the term, 14-year-old Ida Bidson decides to take over as teacher in her 1925 rural Colorado one-room school. Ida longs to get credit for the year and take her exams so she can get into high school, but she finds that teaching is a bigger challenge than she imagined. Readers will find many points of comparison and contrast between Ida’s school and their own.
Independent Readers
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl
by Joyce Carol Oates
Ursula, an independent girl with few friends, comes to Matt’s rescue when his kidding about bombing the school is taken seriously. Ursula, who calls herself “Ugly Girl,” becomes a likeable character after she lets “Big Mouth” Matt into her life, and the two form a loyal friendship. Discussion might focus on the feeling so many adolescent girls share of being ugly and on how friendships have made a difference in participants’ lives.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Champion Athlete
by Geri Harrington
Joyner-Kersee’s life is profiled in this biography, depicting the ways she overcame asthma to be a champion track-and-field athlete. Girls may be inspired to write stories about themselves or someone else who overcame physical challenges to become successful.
Make Lemonade
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
When inner-city teen LaVaughn needs a job, she works as a part-time babysitter for a 17-year-old single mother. When the mother loses her job, LaVaughn begins a crusade to help her build confidence, return to school, and make a better life for herself and her family. The girls in your group could list their own hopes and dreams and talk about how they might reach them.
Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls
by Marilyn Singer, editor
Singer compiles short stories by 11 women authors in a collection that will interest teen girls for the variety of challenges that the young protagonists face and conquer. A good follow-up activity would be to compile your own anthology of girls’ stories about independent young women.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
In this Newbery-winning book, Charlotte Doyle, the only “young lady” aboard an 1832 ship bound from England to Rhode Island, finds danger and adventure on her journey. Kids could make a timeline depicting the different stages in Charlotte’s transformation as she tries to fit in with the sailors.
Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip
by Hilary Beard, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams
The tennis-star sisters give advice about friends, money, volunteering, and reaching one’s goals and dreams. Teens will enjoy the photos and down-to-earth feel of the book. It would be fun for the girls in your group to write letters to Venus and Serena to tell them about their afterschool projects. Maybe they’ll even get a reply!
