Once upon a Heroine: 450 Books for Girls to Love - Softcover

Alison Cooper-Mullin; Jennifer Marmaduke Coye

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809230208 ISBN 13: 9780809230204

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 1998

Synopsis

With six daughters between them, the authors (former publishing executives) recognize girls' need to imagine themselves as the heroine of their own lives and the stories they read. Organized by age group, and based on recommendations by teachers, librarians, and reviews, this guidebook also contains favorite book selections by real heroines (e.g. Gloria Steinem and Oprah Winfrey). Readers can suggest additions for the next edition via e-mail. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Children's books are frequently used to proselytize. Luckily, resources like these help sort out the good from the dogmatic, the mediocre, and the bad. As former Caldecott and Newbery Award committee member Odean reminds us in her introduction to Great Books for Boys, boys have different challenges growing up than girls do. In this companion to her Great Books for Girls (LJ 1/97), she summarizes over 600 books, from picture books to novels, arranging them by reader age from two to 14 and providing short, descriptive synopses. She chooses stories with characters of both sexes that reflect the complexity of boys' lives?a family's flight from domestic abuse, a sixth grader's struggle to understand a beloved but bigoted father?as well as stories about children who use creativity to solve problems. She also lists tips for reading aloud, magazines that review children's books, and a special section for books on sexuality and growing up. Cooper-Mullin and Coye, who have six daughters between them, have gathered books whose heroines are smart and strong-willed. Nontraditional roles, interesting plots, meaningful character development, and rich language were some of their criteria for inclusion. Organized from "early readers" to "young adults," their book includes a resource list for finding the books mentioned. It also features quotes from women like Ruby Bridges and Janet Reno. As with Great Books for Boys, all children can enjoy these selections. A single drawback of both these titles is the absence of author and title indexes. Both books are recommended for all school and public libraries. Introduced by Marian Wright Edelman, Strong Souls Singing focuses on African American literature for girls and women and is the companion to Spirited Minds: African American Books for Our Sons and Our Brothers (LJ 9/1/97). Covering 110 books, it is the narrowest of the three titles reviewed here. Each chapter covers a particular genre (i.e., poetry, drama, fiction, biography, and history) and contains page-long entries with suggested reading levels. These mini-book reviews are nicely illustrated and accompanied by book excerpts, but many of the recommended books, such as Alice Walker's The Color Purple, are already well known and are certainly found in other bibliographies. Recommended for large public libraries and African American collections.?Glynys Thomas, Suffolk Univ. Lib., Boston
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Along with recently published books such as Gary Paulsen's Sarney and Helen Lester's Author: A True Story (both 1997), a few classics are included in this listing of mostly fiction and biography. The unifying factor is a strong female protagonist, with justification for inclusion usually made clear in the generous annotations. Criteria are discussed in an interesting introductory chapter: Robert McCloskey's Mrs. Mallard, who is "absolutely in charge of her brood," and Brian Jacques' brave mouse Mariel made the cut; Sleeping Beauty of fairy tale fame didn't. Imprints are not complete enough to use for ordering, and the notation of honors a book has received is haphazard at best. There's some crossover with Kathleen Odean's Great Books for Girls (1997), but this collection spans a wider age range, including some adult books (unfortunately not designated as such) in its young adult section. It is not, however, as well organized or accessible. Its inclusion of some "classic" literature is a plus, though, as are its informal, informative annotations, which usually incorporate some sense of controversial thematic elements. Use this with Odean's book for a broader perspective on books for girls. Stephanie Zvirin

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0809230208
• ISBN 13: 9780809230204
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320