As I researched this project I was struck with the fact that there was little literature written about girls growing up and coming of age. My text alone deals mostly with the lives of three boys in very popular novels. So many of the classics are written about boys;
Johnny Tremain, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer,
the boy in the
Yearling-Jodie,
A Separate Peace
and so on.
What I have attempted to do is to put together a lengthy annotated bibliography for teenage girls. The books cover all the aspects of adolescence effecting them. The authors are listed as follows: Joyce Mitchell
Free to Choose
is for boys worth reading , and
Other Choices For Becoming A Woman
for girls
Christine Arnothy
I am Fifteen—and I Don’t Want to Die
Anne Frank
The Diary of a Young Girl
Judy Blume
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Judy Blume
Deenie
Beverly Cleary
Fifteen
Beverly Cleary
The Luckiest Girl
Paula Danziger
Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice
? GIRL’S
Paula Danziger
The Pistachip Prescription
Jeannette Eyerly
A Girl Like Me
M.E. Kerr
Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack
E.L. Konigsburg
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankweiler
Scott O’Dell Kathleen,
Please Come Home
Robin Wagner
Sarah T. Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic
Paul Zindel
My Darling, My Hamburger
(See the bibliography for more details)
Have students, girls especially, select a book for a report. Have them review the book captions ahead of time to see what subject matter appeals to them.
Teachers will find Patricia Spacks especially helpful. She writes about women in literature. One book worth reading is her
Contemporary Women Novelists
(see bibliography).
For some of the more ambitious readers have them compare one of the girls books with one of the boys. The authors are listed as follows:
Robert Lipsyte
The Contender
Anne Snyder
My Name is Davy I’m an Alcoholic
Susie Hinton
That was Then, This is Now
Robert Cormier
The Chocolate War
BOY’S
Alice Back
The Meat in the Sandwich
Judy Blume
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t
Frank Bonham
The Nitty Gritty
William Golding
Lord of the Flies
Susie Hinton
The Outsiders
Joyce Mitchell
Free to Choose
(see the bibliography for more details)
