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

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

troybob — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:14:46 -0800

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!

By: amro

amro — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:20:17 -0800

Little Women.

By: sulaine

sulaine — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:30:10 -0800

My Atonia, Willa Cather.

Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

By: padraigin

padraigin — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:32:25 -0800

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).

By: peacay

peacay — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:32:36 -0800

My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:36:15 -0800

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.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:36:34 -0800

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.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:37:29 -0800

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.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:39:46 -0800

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.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:43:03 -0800

hey, my link vanished. boo.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:44:00 -0800

Ambrosia Voyeur, I had that book too!

By: zia

zia — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:47:21 -0800

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.

By: zia

zia — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:47:36 -0800

*nurturing

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:56:45 -0800

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?

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:59:20 -0800

Can you tell I love this idea?

By: cocoagirl

cocoagirl — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:01:47 -0800

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.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:08:49 -0800

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.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:21:13 -0800

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.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:24:45 -0800

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.

By: msali

msali — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:46:17 -0800

I loved books about Clara Barton, Jane Addams and Florence Nightingale when I was that age.

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:57:13 -0800

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.

By: Margalo Epps

Margalo Epps — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:14:00 -0800

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.

By: steef

steef — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:39:34 -0800

I loved Anne Morrow Lindbergh's diaries (they skip the kidnapping stuff). Start with Bring Me a Unicorn.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:13:25 -0800

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.

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:32:26 -0800

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.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:16:21 -0800

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

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:08:00 -0800

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.

By: BoscosMom

BoscosMom — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:03:59 -0800

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.

By: BoscosMom

BoscosMom — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:07:41 -0800

Oops. I guess that's a second for West With the Night. Missed LobsterMitten's reccomendation on first read.

By: troybob

troybob — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:34:00 -0800

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...

By: lhauser

lhauser — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 11:35:50 -0800

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.