About Girls Opinion Columns: Click for Girls Speak Out for Girls & Girls Speak Out About Girls Click for Girls' Global Voices Click to find out about the status of girls and education Click and discover what child labor means to girls For Girls Click to hear a girl speak out at a UN conference on global warming Click to read an interview with Andrea Johnston by Christina Soza, a high-school student, and find more sites with info on girls around the globe. Great Books (feel free to send us your favorites) Girls Speak Out® Bibliography-- ages 10 and up Compiled by Milly Lee, author, librarian and a Girls Speak Out Foundation board member. When she was a child growing up in San Francisco, Chinese-American Milly found few books about children like herself. There were some Asian stories, but they were set in an exotic land of long ago. Milly felt strongly that stories of children like her needed to be voiced. When her family was nearly grown, Milly returned to college, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco, to become a school librarian. She was active in professional organizations such as the American Library Association, California Reading Association and the California School Library Association. Since retirement, she became a writer to share her stories with children. NIM AND THE WAR EFFORT (1997) was her first children's book, followed by EARTHQUAKE (2001) and LANDED (2006) published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. |
| Alegria, Malin. Estrella's Quinceanera. Simon & Shuster 2006. A Mexican-American girl who dreads her big fifteenth birthday party finds what she wants across two cultures. Allende, Isabel. House of Spirits. Harper Collins 1985; Daughter of Fortune. Harper Collins, 1999; Portrait in Sepia. Harper Collins, 2001. Magical spiritualism and political and social history of some adventurous girls and women. Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Algonquin, 1991. Latina girls growing up funny, and serious. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Bantam, 1969. A powerful story of hard times and survival in an award winning autobiography. Ashby, Ruth & Deborah Gore Ohrn, ed. Herstory: Women Who Changed the World. Viking, 1995. Inspirational words from those who reclaimed women's history. Atwood, Margaret. Handmaid's Tale. Doubleday1990; Robber Bride. Doubleday, 1993. Strong girls who challenged their oppressors. Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Orchard, 1990. Newberry award winning story of a 13 year old girl at sea who uses her wits to survive. Avi's other titles are highly recommended as well. Beales, Melba. Warriors Don't Cry. Pocket, 1995. The true story of the girl who integrated a school in the South. Carroll, Rebecca. Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1997. Interviews that explore young black girls' attitudes. Choi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Houghton Mifflin, 1991. A North Korean girl trapped in an occupied country. Cleary, Beverly. Girl from Yamhill: a Memoir. Morrow, 1988. The true story of a beloved author's childhood. Read her other titles, especially the Ramona stories. Coleman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter. Crown, 1995; Fannie Lou Hamer & the Fight for The Vote. Millbrook, 1993; Mother Jones & the March of the Mill Children. Millbrook, 1994. Photos and inspiring stories of women who stood up, took risks and wrought changes. Coles, Robert. The Story of Ruby Bridges. Scholastic, 1995. The poignant story of the only African-American child in her school in 1960. Conway, Jill Kerr. Written by Herself. Vintage, 1990. Road from Coorain. Vintage, 1990. Autobiographies of a remarkable Australian woman who became the president of a renowned women's college in America. Creech, Sharon. Walk Two Moons. HarperCollins, 1994. Newberry award winning story of a thirteen year old Native American girl's search for her missing mother. All the titles of this author are recommended. Crew, Linda. Children of the River. Delacorte, 1989. Sundara fled Cambodia, then struggles to fit into America. Cushman, Karen. Catherine Called Birdy. Clarion, 1994. The Midwife's Apprentice. Clarion, 1995. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. Clarion, 1996. Engrossing tales of girls living in medieval times. Lucy Whipple was a spunky girl who came to California during the Gold Rush. Divakaruvi, Chita. Mistress of Spices. Anchor/Doubleday, 1997. A mysterious Indian woman doles out spices and remedies in her new country. Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. Hyperion, 1992. A gentle sister and brother live in a tropical paradise. Farmer, Nancy. The Ear, The Eye and The Arm. Orchard, 1994; A Girl Named Disaster. Orchard, 1996. Framer's imaginative works have won the Newberry Award, the National Book Award and the Printz Award. Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. Doubleday, 1995. A timeless World War II story of growing up while hiding from the Nazis. Freedman, Russell. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery. Clarion, 1993. The inspiring story of a shy young woman who became the First Lady of the USA. Furlong, Monica. Wise Child. Random House, 1987; Juniper. Knopf, 1991. Growing up female in Britain during the Dark Ages, a time when women healers faced prosecution. Garden, Nancy. Annie on My Mind. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982. Still being challenged, and still an excellent story of two teenagers who fell in love. George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves. HarperCollins, 1972. Survival story of a remarkable Intuit girl growing up in the frigid north. GirlSource. Ten Speed Press, 2000. Written by young women, it's packed with good information about mental health, sexual health, relationships, women's rights, and planning for college or a career. Hamilton, Virginia. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush. Putnam1982. A teenager resents taking care of her retarded brother. Read other stories by this excellent award-winning African-American author. Hesse, Karen. Letters from Rifka. Holt, 1992. A young Jewish girl's story of coming to the USA from the Ukraine. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki. Farewell to Manzanar. Bantam, 1973. A moving story of a Japanese family's victory over racism during World War II in an internment camp. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes were Watching God. HarperCollins, 1990. Love among people in folk speech. Jenkins, Lyll Becerra de. The Honorable Prison. Dutton, 1988. A true story of survival during South African political turmoil. Jiang, Ji Li. Red Scarf Girl. HarperCollins, 1997. An autobiography about growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Vintage, 1989. Painful growing up while female, Chinese and smart in a small central California town. Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. HarperCollins, 2003. A different twist to the Cinderella story now made into a movie. Levinson, Nancy Smiler. She's Been Working on the Railroad. Lodestar, 1997. Women built railroads, too. Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Thrilling story of a 10 year old girl being smuggled out of Nazi Germany. Lyons, Mary. Letters from a Slave Girl. Scribner, 1992; Sorrow's Kitchen. Macmillan, 1990. Stories of escaping from slavery based on Harriet Jacob's autobiography. Macy, Sue. Winning Ways: A Photohistory of American Women in Sports. Holt, 1996. The stories of amazing physical strength and endurance of females. Malone, Mary. Maya Lin: Architect & Artist. Enslow, 1995. The early life of the architect of, among other structures, the Vietnam War Memorial in the USA. McCunn, Ruthanne Lum.Thousand Pieces of Gold. Beacon, 2004. Moon Pearl. Beacon. 2000. Two stories of very independent Chinese women who prevailed despite adversity. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Knopf. 1970. Morrison's first novel is about the most powerless in her society, an 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove who cannot satisfy America's beauty myth. Munoz-Ryan, Pam. Riding Freedom. Scholastic, 1998; Esperanza Rising. Scholastic, 2000. Both award-winning California stories, one of a stagecoach driver who isn't what others believed; and the other about a rich young girl who had to give up much to learn to survive as a migrant worker. Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Random, 2003. Books brought together a group of women who supported each other while living dangerously in Iran. Namioka, Lensey. Ties that Bind, Ties that Break. Delacorte, 1999. Going against her culture, a young Chinese girl refuses to have her feet bound and she suffered the consequences of her choice. Nye, Naomi Shihab. Habibi. Simon & Schuster, 1997. A love story of a Palestinian girl and an Israeli boy. Parks, Rosa and James Haskin. Rosa Parks: My Story. Dial, 1992. The woman who refused to move to the back of the bus because she was black sparked a civil rights movement. Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie. Lodestar, 1991. The Great Gilly Hopkins. Crowell, 1978. The story of girls working hard to free themselves from miserable lives as mill girls. Peck, Richard. A Long Way from Chicago. Dial, l1998; A Year Down Yonder. Dial, 2000. Newberry award winning stories of Grandma Dowdel's amusing take on life. Pettit, Jayne. Maya Angelou: Journey of the Heart. Lodestar, 1996. The acclaimed poet's struggles to find expression through her writing. Rappaport, Doreen. Living Dangerously. Harper Collins, 1991. Stories of six strong American women who led daredevil lives while challenging limits. Rinaldi, Ann. A Ride into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick. Harcourt, 1991. The courageous story of 14 year old Tempe Wick during the American Revolutionary War. Rylant, Cynthia. Missing May. Orchard, 1992. Summer's beloved aunt dies and she and her uncle struggle until a young boy comes into their lives. San Souci, Robert. Cut from the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tales. Philomel, 1993. Extraordinary folk tales from diverse American cultures. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Putnam, 1989.The Bonesetter's Daughter. Putnam, 2001. Stories of a Chinese-American family and their spiritual and cultural ties. Temple, Frances. The Ramsay Scallop. Orchard, 1994. A young 13th century girl goes on a pilgrimage. Thomas, Marlo. Free To Be.... Running Press Book Publishers, 2002. The first of a series of landmark books showing the importance of and fun in celebrating yourself. Tsukiyama, Gail. Women of the Silk. St. Martin's Press, 1991. Chinese women were able to maintain their independence by working in the silk industry. Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mother's Gardens. Harcourt, 1983. The Color Purple. Harcourt, 1982. Stories of the richness of life despite poverty, slavery and prejudice. Wong, Jade Snow. Fifth Chinese Daughter. University of Washington Press, 1990. The first novel to depict home life in San Francisco's Chinatown as experienced by a young girl who grew up to be an award winning author and ceramic artist. Yang, Erche Namu. Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World. Little, 2003. Singer Namu sheds light on the unique matriarchal and matrilineal Moso culture of one of China's minority people. Additional titles can be found in Once Upon a Heroine by Alison Cooper-Mullin, Jennifer Marmaduke Coye. Contemporary Books, 1999 and Shirleen Dodson's 100 Books for Girls to Grow On. Harper, 1998. |