Help from the Hive Mind

[dreams_of_wings]

so! In the fall I am going to be teaching two sections of introduction to women's studies at Suffolk University, which I am beyond thrilled about. But perhaps even more exciting is the fact that the department has asked me to develop and propose an upper division course for the spring semester, and the idea of mine they were most excited about is a

Comments

[dancingwolfgrrl]

I was pretty obsessed with schlocky genre fiction in my teens, of which Tamora Pierce's books remain among my favorites. The stuff I currently can't stop recommending (in the same plucky-heroine genre) are Terry Prachett's Tiffany Aching books (Wee, Free Men is the first.)

I also had mad love affairs in my early adolescent (or even pre-teen) years with A Bridge to Terabithia, The Phantom Tollbooth, and A Wrinkle in Time. I also started loving Shakespeare in my early teens, especially A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Although I actually have predictable intellectual beef with her, I feel obliged to mention Carol Gilligan as a theorist of adolescent girls. (I actually read In A Different Voice when I was 14, and it was essential to my understanding of myself as a feminist.)

[inahandbasket]

Never having been a adolescent girl, take these with a grain of salt and all.
;-)

Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell - might be a bit younger?
UnLonDon, China Mieville (seconding the suggestion)
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
Nancy Drew books, because they haven't been mentioned yet

Also, there are 1,617 "Amazon Lists" for the search "teenage girl" here, might be a good resource to poke around.

I'll keep thinking too.

[miss_chance]

I"m not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I know that I Know Why The caged Bird Sings made a tremendous positive impact on me as an adolescent girl.

If you're comfortable with the very dark and difficult, plays by Natasha Shange such as For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enough and others are awesome.

I liked a book called The Peter Pan Bag about a young teen girl spending a summer living alone in NYC, a great deal too, but I'm not sure if it counts and great literature.

[dichroic]

ALso, have you thought about RIlla of Ingleside instead of Anne of Green Gables? It's WWI rather than 19th century, but it spends a lot more time dissecting what it means to be female.

[ayelle]

Anne of Green Gables is in fact 20th century (1908)! I will never forget this because I embarrassed myself by asking my 19th-century American Literature professor if we were going to do Anne of Green Gables (which I had not at that point read) and was double-shamed since it's also not American.

[minerva42]

I know that the book The Fledgling made an impression me, I enjoyed reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn in school in 9th grade, and I mention The House on Mango Street because no one else has mentioned it, and it fits with what you're looking for. I read it as part of class in 8th grade. Takeing Care of Terrific also comes to mind.