Books about women heroes and role models for a 12-year-old girl?

October 19, 2006 9:14 AM

What are some good biographical/autobiographical books about inspiring women I could put together into a set for my 12-year-old niece?

My niece loves to read, and I thought for the holidays I would try to put together a set of eight to ten books about/by women as role models. I'm thinking along the lines of Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart...something not too simple or too adult for a 12-year-old girl (hard for me to judge just looking at book descriptions). It would be nice to have some modern-day women to include as well, though nothing comes to mind right away.

I've been meaning to read some of the autobiographical stuff by Keller and Roosevelt, so I might read some simultaneously with her (we are on different coasts).

Thanks people!

posted by troybob to Society & Culture (30 answers total)

Little Women.
posted by amro at 9:20 AM on October 19, 2006

My Atonia, Willa Cather.

Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
posted by sulaine at 9:30 AM on October 19, 2006

Some of the women who inspired me as a young woman: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell (first American female doctor), Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Julia Child, Elizabeth I of England, Coco Chanel, Erma Bombeck (seriously).
posted by padraigin at 9:32 AM on October 19, 2006

My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin.
posted by peacay at 9:32 AM on October 19, 2006

I remember being very into Harriet Tubman.

One possibly stereotypical note: Girls often tend to gravitate more toward fiction than non-fiction. If she really likes non-fiction, or you very specifically want to expose her to autobiographies, then that's great; if you just want to inspire, then you may want to open up to fiction as well as non-fiction.
posted by occhiblu at 9:36 AM on October 19, 2006

Well, Little Women is fiction, but I read Invincible Louisa at that age. A good one, and age appropriate.

My Antonia will possibly bore her to death. But don't forget The Diary of Anne Frank. This one on Harriet Tubman looks good, too.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:36 AM on October 19, 2006

Oh! Also, Agatha Christie has what I remember as really thrilling autobiographies. I don't know if they were inspiring, per se, but I remember thinking what an amazingly interesting life she had had, and how neat it was that she could translate some of that (the extensive travel and archaeology knowledge, especially) into her work.
posted by occhiblu at 9:37 AM on October 19, 2006

Hey! Here's the book I read about Helen Keller when I was around 12. It's actually mostly about Annie Sullivan, but it was very exciting, A La Miracle WOrker.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:39 AM on October 19, 2006

hey, my link vanished. boo.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:43 AM on October 19, 2006

Ambrosia Voyeur, I had that book too!
posted by padraigin at 9:44 AM on October 19, 2006

I adore Madeline L'engle's crosswicks journals. They are deeply insprining and shows a portrait of a woman who was a great writer, a loving wife, nurtring mother, and a steadfast rock for all who knew her.
posted by zia at 9:47 AM on October 19, 2006

*nurturing
posted by zia at 9:47 AM on October 19, 2006

It's not biography, but since I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a little difficult for 12, why not throw in some of Maya Angelou's poetry?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:56 AM on October 19, 2006

Can you tell I love this idea?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:59 AM on October 19, 2006

Mae Jemison--first black woman in space--has a good biography (according to the reviews on Amazon). I met her and heard her speak years ago and found her very down to earth and inspiring.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:01 AM on October 19, 2006

Jane Goodall has written several nice books about her life, if your niece might be interested in science, animals, or the environment. I rather like Reason for Hope.
posted by hydropsyche at 10:08 AM on October 19, 2006

I can't figure out which book would be most age appropriate from my googlin', but you have to have some Frida Kahlo. She was phenomenal.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:21 AM on October 19, 2006

I love love love Laura Ingalls Wilder, especially the later books where she's in her teens, teaching a school away from home to support her family. Beautiful role model.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:24 AM on October 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

I loved books about Clara Barton, Jane Addams and Florence Nightingale when I was that age.
posted by msali at 10:46 AM on October 19, 2006

Does she like Beverly Cleary's books? Cleary has written two nice autobiographies, this one and this one. You may have to get them used, though.
posted by JanetLand at 10:57 AM on October 19, 2006

One of my favorite inspiring women is Emily Hahn. I'd recommend No Hurry to Get Home: The Memoir of the New Yorker Writer Whose Unconventional Life and Adventures Spanned the 20th Century.

When I was younger I also had a particular passion for fiction that was autobiographical: the Little house books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace (a favorite) come to mind.

Lucretia Mott was a heroine to me, but I don't recall a particularly good biography of her.
posted by Margalo Epps at 11:14 AM on October 19, 2006

I loved Anne Morrow Lindbergh's diaries (they skip the kidnapping stuff). Start with Bring Me a Unicorn.
posted by steef at 12:39 PM on October 19, 2006

Jill Ker Conway's autobiography The Road from Coorain. (She grew up on a sheep farm in Australia, and became a powerful academic and college president in the US.)

Young adult fiction with female protagonists. Some of these might be on the young side if she's a strong reader, take a look at them online to see what you think.:
Katharine Paterson has a series of books with female warriors in ancient China; Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom is one I remember specifically.
H.M. Hoover has several science fiction books with female protagonists.
Tamora Pierce has the Alanna series, a fantasy series about a girl who dresses as a boy to become a knight.
Susan Cooper's books in the same vein are great.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:13 PM on October 19, 2006

Phyllis Munday: Mountaineer , about the first woman who climbed (1924) Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. From the back cover: "She climbed nearly 100 mountains in her lifetime and made over 30 first ascents. Her physical prowess legitimized her in the largely male world of mountaineering and inspired generations of women to follow in her footsteps." There's several photos including one of her carrying a 70-pound backpack. She was awesome. The book's aimed at ages 12 and up.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 7:32 PM on October 19, 2006

I haven't read these, but when I was this age a book about a man sailing solo around the world was one of my favorites... Here are some nonfiction books about women's adventures in the same vein:

Linda Greenlaw's The Hungry Ocean about her life and adventures as a commercial fishing boat captain.
Tania Aebi's Maiden Voyage about her solo sail around the world at age 18.
Beryl Markham's West With the Night, stories of a woman aviator, bush pilot in Africa and solo crosser of the Atlantic.

An Amazon list of more good books on female aviators
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:16 PM on October 19, 2006

A book about Lillian Gilbreth, a doctorate-holding female engineer in the early twentieth century who, both with her husband Frank and alone, did lots of important work in motion study, which really is more interesting than it sounds.

Lillian also bore and raised twelve children -- especially amazing when you realize her husband died when their oldest child was only eighteen. She didn't remarry, and raised the kids herself by hand -- her study of efficiency made it easier, she said.

The books Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes were written by two of her children about her and their childhood (Belles takes place after their father's death, so concentrates a little more on her). Cheaper bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Steve Martin movie, I promise, except they share a title and there are twelve kids in each.

The Wikipedia article references some straight-up biographies of her, which I didn't know about (but now plan to read). I think Cheaper and Belles are really entertaining; I probably read them when I was about twelve, and loved them. Although Belles fits the theme perfectly, you may not want to include it in this set just because you won't understand it as well without Cheaper, and I doubt you want to spend two slots on one person.
posted by booksandlibretti at 10:08 PM on October 19, 2006

West With The Night about and written by Beryl Markham. She was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West. She had an amazing life starting with a very unconventional childhood in Africa. Great book.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:03 AM on October 20, 2006

Oops. I guess that's a second for West With the Night. Missed LobsterMitten's reccomendation on first read.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:07 AM on October 20, 2006

Response by poster: thanks everybody for the responses! i won't mark best answers because there are so many good suggestions and i would have to mark all of them! looking over the possibilities, i want to read so many of them myself...
posted by troybob at 8:34 AM on October 20, 2006

I second the Mae Jemmison suggestion...haven't read it, but she floats my boat for modern women to look up to.

Also there are apparently two biographies of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, here and here.
posted by lhauser at 11:35 AM on October 21, 2006