Once upon a Heroine: 450 Books for Girls to Love (Paperback)

by Alison Cooper-Mullin (Author), Jennifer Marmaduke Coye (Author), Jane Brody (Contributor), Beverly Cleary (Contributor), Sherry Lansing (Contributor), Sheryl Swoopes (Contributor) "What book do you remember not being able to put down no matter how many times your parents told you "lights out"?..." (more)
Key Phrases: first woman doctor, Reading Rainbow Book, Young Adults, Notable Book (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Using recommendations from librarians, teachers, book reviews, and their own experiences as mothers, the authors have compiled a list of classic and current titles from almost every genre that provides girls, from pre-schoolers to young adults, with positive role models. The annotations are generally concise and informative; however, those in the preschool category tend to be cloying and sentimental, e.g., a sweetie pie of a book! or totally adorable! An interesting and valuable component of the book is recollections of 70 famous women of their own childhood favorites. While Kathleen Odeans Great Books for Girls (Ballantine, 1997) covers much of the same ground and is easier to use, these reminiscences and the lack of duplication make Once upon a Heroine a worthwhile addition to parenting or professional shelves.Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809230208
• ISBN-13: 978-0809230204
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #646,060 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for your book shelf, June 5, 2001

By	Patricia A. Powell (gladstone, nj USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a carefully constructed resource of books about and for girls. While it includes recommendations on the well known..."Little Women", "Anne of Green Gables" and "Harriet the Spy", it also includes recommendations on unusual, clever and hard to find books such as Jan Andrews' "Very Last First Time" amd Jacqueline Dembar Greene's "Out of Many Waters".

In addition to the typical one paragraph summaries of the books, the authors have interviewed dozens of prominent accomplished American women about their favorite childhood books. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor particularly enjoyed the "Book of Knowledge",and author, Paula Danziger, read Nancy Drew books and "Little Women".

This is the most thoughtful book of its kind. It reviews 450 books by age and reading level. My daughter and I have discovered wonderful books we would never have found on our own. Be prepared to use your library, well as used book sales and services to find some of the great books.

The authors have clearly put a great deal of thought and effort into best guide of books about and for girls. If you are the sharing the adventure of reading with a girl, this is a must for your book shelf.

Highly recommended

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed, but useful overall, November 8, 2003

By	Sokste "KtS" (Minneapolis, MN U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

Girl-specific lists are always up for extra criticism, and this is no different. The authors do a great job of discussing their criteria, and for me there's a gap between theirs and mine. I want great books, that also are positive for girls. Theirs seems to possibly be books that are positive for girls, but except for that aren't that great. I'd rather a smaller, more selective list.

My problems with this specific book include:

The age groupings - they have 8yrs - 11yrs old, and then 12 & up. I like the middle school grouping better - 11 is much more similar to 12 than 8 is to 10, in my perspective.

Also I dislike that each book stands alone in their descriptions - there may be two books listed my an author, but neither listing will give a clue about that. I prefer where other books by that author are within a listing.

Different genre's are thrown together within each age group, and genre is not identified in the heading info. So it is not possible to skim for fiction only for instance (although that is what most selections are).

The basic info: author, illustrator, year, edition is laid-out in a way that takes 4 lines per book, which is a waste of space.

The descriptions are full, but again it often felt like I was being sold or encouraged to read it. I don't want encouragement, I want assessment/criticism.

Finally, there are the barest of indexes: one has title, author and contributor; the other has subject.

I do like the contributor items: in which a famous woman comments on her favorite books.

So it is certainly useful, and could also be even better in later editions!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential guide for thoughtful readers, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

As the mother of three daughters, I was delighted to discover this meaningful guide to good books for girls. Literature that empowers and inspires a young girl is one more way to launch confident, successful children into an increasingly challenging world. This book makes that concern much more effective and the choices more clearly directed. I especially like the sidebars of high-profile women who reveal their favorite titles from girlhood. It's amazing to see how a simple picture book as a child can have such a radical and lasting effect on an individual. There is guidance and inspiration aplenty in here...and lots to think and talk about at the dinner table, too.