Customer Reviews

Great Books for Girls

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There is a updated version of this book that was published in May 2002. It has more than 200 new titles, and eliminates the out-of-print books. For some inexplicable reason, Amazon makes it hard to fine. If you search for "Odean Girls," then select "More" where it says "Editions," you will get to the new one. It's the same handy guide, but with more recent books.

""My old mother used to say that every little girl should be able to cook, play the piano, sing, and shoot."" So declares dastardly Mr. Grimshaw to orphan Sylvia Green in Joan Aiken's 1960 children's novel THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. The meek Sylvia "thought of Aunt Jane's very different catalogue of accomplishments for little girls, in which crewel work, purse netting, and making paper doilies took high place, and could not agree with him."

Like Old Mrs. Grimshaw and Aunt Jane, we all have our own opinions. To give a small idea of what editor Kathleen Odean's values were when compiling GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS, I will discuss two books, one she excludes, and one she recommends.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery is a famous novel set at the turn of the century on Canada's Prince Edward Island. Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew decide to adopt a boy to help the aging Matthew with the farm work, but get Anne instead. Marilla declares that they must send her back; "What use can she be to us?" "We might be some use to her," is Matthew's reply. Anne's history - of being farmed out as child-care labor to abusive women with drunken husbands - makes Marilla relent. She agrees to keep the girl she has "no use" for and give her a "proper bringing up". Anne proves brilliant as a scholar, and while many parents keep their own children tied to the house or farm, the Cuthberts support Anne's academic ambitions -- despite neighborly criticism.

In the end, Anne earns a full university scholarship, but due to a family crisis postpones her education to work as a schoolteacher. Odeon excludes GREEN GABLES because Anne "sacrifices herself for others" which makes the book's message "a very traditional one". But the whole point of closing the book on Anne's "sacrifice" is to emphasize the importance of female education. Anne's teaching degree is proved VALUABLE, which validates Marilla's decision to allow Anne to pursue extra schooling. The ending re-iterates the underlying theme of human worth transcending utilitarian considerations, by rewarding Marilla's uncalculating kindness to a "useless" child. It's moving, dammit!!!

But apparently we are supposed to trample human beings we can't make use of. Which is why Odean DOES include an amusingly awful excuse for sci-fi called THE GIRL WHO OWNED A CITY! In a post-Apocalyptic future, everyone over twelve has mysteriously died, and the "heroine" Lisa decrees that everything from the public school to a nearby warehouse of food is hers and hers alone. This gives her dictatorial power over any child that wants to live at the school and/or eat, so no one can stop her when she makes five-year-olds earn their keep at "her" school by patrolling the walls with GUNS to shoot other children trying to take "her" stuff. Odean recommends CITY on account of Lisa's "unusually strong leadership skills," although Lisa actually doesn't have any, just absurdly meek followers too dumb to realize that a school is public property.

Well, you get the idea. It is as if Odean made her choices by speed-reading with a checklist, and ignoring moral context as well as literary quality. Many reviewers complain that Ideology is put before Quality, but that is only half the problem, as many books seem no more feminist or "pro-girl" than they are "great". CITY is not the only recommendation that undermines democratic and humanistic values just because the heroine shows some illusion of strength. Another problem is that Odean's choices and comments seem to indicate a certain borderline misogyny. For example, she praises one picture book because it shows a girl climbing the rigging of a ship - but regretfully whines that it also shows her CURLING HER HAIR while perched on top of said rigging.

Be aware that Odean's Puritanism deserts her when it comes to sex. In recommended books: A sixteen-year-old "squire" has a sexual fling with her crown prince; An adult wizard's unhealthy possessiveness towards his female student is revealed to be "love" the instant she turns sixteen; The hostile sexual aggression of a "troubled" boy proves a successful means of courting the heroine. Unlike perilous and destructive behavior such as HAIR CURLING, or WORKING BEFORE COLLEGE, such issues are not considered important enough to mention in the annotations. Nor does Odean discuss her views/guidelines regarding sexuality in the introduction.

There are naturally some very excellent books in this lineup. But you have to read each annotation to find out whether Odeon considers it a great book, an okay book, or a dud with a good message. It would have been so easy just to put a star next to the actual good ones. Another problem is that Odean has little respect for the stories beyond their didactic use. For example, she fails to inform the reader that NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET is the third in an excellent series, or that HARRIET THE SPY has two sequels.

You will not find standards such as LITTLE WOMEN, THE SECRET GARDEN, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, HEIDI, NATIONAL VELVET, or the LITTLE HOUSE books. I don't have a particular problem with that. There is something to be said for a non-traditional lineup with aggressive feminist standards as long as one is frank about one's priorities, which Odean is. But in practice Odean's false and shallow notion of feminism robs the approach of its worth. I spent several years browsing through selections, and rather than thinking, "I wish I'd had these books when I was a kid", I ended up grateful that my formative influences were Narnia and STAR WARS, and disgusted with the whole concept of "girl's books" in general.

I don't discourage purchasing it. You just have to know what you are getting. Odean's first priority is making sure the books impart the right messages about being "strong" and "outspoken". Quality is optional, humanism expendable, hair-curling femininity a worse drawback than cruelty, and sacrificing for others worse than exploiting them. It might be best for those who are already well read and are looking for out-of-the-way titles. But if you are only going to get only ONE book of this sort, I'd look elsewhere. ONCE UPON A HEROINE puts a conscious emphasis on quality over didactics, reproduces most of the best recommendations from Odean, and is a fun read in itself.

Don't let the "600" scare you. The book list is broken down into: Picture-Story Books, Folktales, Books for Beginning Readers, Books for Middle Readers, Books for Older Readers... and further broken down by Fiction (Mysteries, Historical, Fantasy, Contempory, etc.) and Biographies (Leaders, Scientist, Artists, Sports). Appropriate ages and a very detailed description is listed for every book. It is very easy to find just the kind for book my daughter is looking for.... AND THE BOOKS ARE STILL IN PRINT! For library usage, there is also a section of great out-of-print books. If you are trying to decide between this book, "Great Books for Girls", and "Let's Hear It for the Girls", this is the one to get!

A lifelong feminist, I usually have clear feelings about things to do with women and girls. But women/girl - only things are not clear cut. Obviously it would be nice if such things were not necessary, if girls self-esteem was not constantly battled against by society etc.., If Ophelia didn't need saving.

But given reality, offsetting influences are still of use. Even so, reading the entries in this book I found myself wanting to ask sometimes: but is it a *good* book?

Many book descriptions included the reasoning for their inclusion (besides positive role models etc..), but some didn't. Regarding those entries, I wanted to know: Is it well-written? Is it content- and flavor- rich, or is it another feeble attempt at PC? In my opinion, books like that are worthless. I wasn't sure I could assume that Odean shared my sentiments about that.

Perhaps the more recent edition is better for that.

In many ways though, this book is great. The explanations of the books are in-depth, all the useful info is included. There are indexes - very compact ones that take up little space. One of my favorite additional things in this book is the section on parent resources - there are many goodies in this section including a list of 4 magazines that librarians use to know what new books are out. Great for keeping up with all that is going on!

All in all a great effort within a very challenging context!

This is an excellent book as a reference for fiction books for girls. In that respect I would rate it with 10. It is missing descriptions of non-fiction books, however, whereas the boys' version of this book ("600 Great Books for Boys") has substantial non-fiction sections. I think this is a serious flaw, perhaps even sexist. Hopefully this will be rectified in the next edition.

We bought this book when our daughter was under two and have found it a charming and invaluable resource. Whenever her skills and interests change, it leads us to many wonderful books. We have yet to find a book listed that is not both beautiful and interesting. I only have two quibbles. First, it should be called "Great Books About Girls for Girls and Boys", since boys could use some positive female role models too. Second, I desperately wish it contained similar listings for movies and videos!!!

I first saw this book in my school library and I love to read, especially about girls, so I checked it out. I'm going to buy my own copy of it because it's such a useful book. There are so many books to choose from for all levels of reading, including biographys, fiction, chapter books, picture books, and more! The books listed in here are all excellent. I'm trying to get my sister to read some of them too! I think it's a perfect resource for teachers, parents, librarians, and of course, girls.

I am a very big reader, so I was extremely excited when I was reccomended this book by a teacher. I have enjoyed every book I read that I found in this guide. It is an extremely helpful book, and whenever I go to the library, I take this with me to search for more great books! I also found it very helpful that the book is divided into different subjects, like fiction, biography, sports fiction, comtemporary life fiction, picture books, folktales, and much, much more! This is a terrific addition to any girl's bookshelf. Awesome book!

I love this book and take it with me every week when my 4-yr.-old daughter and I go to the library. Despite my best efforts, the Disney princess, Barbie, Bratz, etc. marketing machine is so in her face that of course that is what she gravitates to. Hoping it's just a phase, and trying not to be too didactic, I let her pick out what she wants (with the exception of Bratz!) but also pull out my secret weapon--this book--to always pick out a couple more books that present some alternative, balanced, positive models for her of what girls can be. Labeling these "feminist" girls is so ridiculous and retrograde. They are girls who make their own decisions, like nature, like sports, like animals--they are fully human. I pity the woman or man whose experience of life is so narrow that they feel the need to tack a label on such pursuits and passions. I only hope the book will be updated soon...

This book is a great investment! My daughter is a voracious reader, and this book has helped me find lots of great books for her. We have read a good number of the selections and they have turned out to be great stories. I've found that the annotations in other parent book guides are too short to differentiate the books, and the selections tend to be no more satisfying than books I can find myself. Great Books for Girls continues to surprise and delight me