Books for Growing Girls!

Amelia Bloomer

Like many professions, librarianship has its share of associations and their accompanying projects, roundtables, and committees.  I keep the close tabs on  the Amelia Bloomer Project of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. Phew! A mouthful. The Amelia Bloomer Project creates a list every year of books for girls from birth to 18 that meet certain criteria: one, significant feminist content; two, excellence in writing; three, appealing format; and four, age appropriateness. The Project’s website expounds upon the feminist content criterion by specifying that

Feminist books for young readers must move beyond merely ‘spunky’ and ‘feisty’ young women, beyond characters and people who fight to protect themselves without furthering rights for other women. Feminist books show women overcoming the obstacles of intersecting forces of race, gender, and class, actively shaping their destinies. They break bonds forced by society as they defy stereotypical expectations and show resilience in the face of societal strictures. 

All right—sounds good to me! So let’s get to it! The 2014 list was released just last week and contains some real winners. For the full list, click here. Below are two of my favorites: 

Imogen: The Mother of Modernism and Three Boys by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Lisa Congdon 

A lovely picture book about Imogen Cunningham, a photographer who strove to balance work and motherhood. In the author’s note at the end of the book, she is quoted as saying, “You can’t expect things to be smooth and easy and beautiful. You just have to work, find your way out, and do anything you can yourself.” 

Rookie Yearbook Two edited by Tavi Gevinson 

Rookie is an online magazine for teen girls edited by 17-year-old Tavi Gevinson. This yearbook, a collection of articles from June 2012 to May 2013, features pieces written by big names such as Judy Blume and Lena Dunham. It’s smart and doesn’t talk down.

Empowerment, Moran Style

A patron approached me at the reference desk recently [for the record, I swear I am not making this up for the sake of a blog post], asking, “ Where are your books on women and power? I want to feel empowered.” And my inner Gloria Steinem commenced a wild dance of celebration while I oh so calmly and professionally led her over to the appropriate non-fiction section (in case you are wondering, we have relevant titles shelved in the 150’s and early 300’s). As I filled her arms, I scanned book spines in vain for Caitlin Moran’s How to Be a Woman, eventually coming to terms with the fact that it was checked out and informing the patron that I would put it on hold for her pronto. Because if you want to read a book about becoming an empowered woman (and are not squeamish about the liberal use of profanity and colorful euphemisms), look no further than Moran’s honest, funny, and (to put it lightly) strongly worded memoir-cum-manifesto.

 Early on in her book, Moran references a study that claims only 29% of American women count themselves feminists and demands, “What do you think feminism is, ladies? What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? ‘Vogue,’ by Madonna? Jeans?” This sort of straight-up denunciation of what she deems societally ingrained short-sightedness is interspersed with fairly lurid tales about growing up poor and in time becoming a successful music journalist, newspaper columnist, and married mother of two girls in London. So camp out on the couch with a cup of coffee and try not to snort it out your nose as you read all about one woman’s quest to become empowered, and in so doing, empower the rest of us.