MUJERES ILUSTRADORAS

BEYOND FEMALE PROTAGONISTS--FEMALE VOICES IN PICTURE BOOKS

KAY E. VANDERGRIFT

Contemporary picture books provide opportunities for young people to encounter strong female voices in a variety of times, places, roles, and literary styles. The following books go beyond just having female protagonists. They are not only gender-fair; they are multicultural, international, and represent a diversity of ages, classes, and personalities. Some assist us in the process of recovering women's history, others celebrate women's forms of expression, others tell of a girl's relationship with her mother or father, and still others offer a new perspective on the older woman in the lives of children. PICTURE BOOKS WITH FEMALE VOICES Belton, Sandra. From Miss Ida's Porch. Illus. Floyd Cooper. New York: Four Winds, 1993. Blumberg, Rhoda. Bloomers! Illus. Mary Morgan. New York: Bradbury, 1993. Boulton, Jane, selector. Only Opal: The Diary of a Young Girl. Illus. Barbara Cooney. New York: Philomel, 1994. Brisson, Pat. Wanda's Roses. Illus. Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 1994. Brown, Don. Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Bunting, Eve. Dandelions. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995. Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako. Illus. by Ed Young. New York: Putnam, 1993. Cooney, Barbara. Eleanor. New York: Viking, 1996. Cooney, Barbara. Hattie and the Wild Waves: A Story from Brooklyn. New York: Viking, 1990. Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. New York: Viking, 1982. Corey, Shana. You Forgot your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer: A Very Improper Story. New York: Scholastic, 2000. Dodds, Dale. Sing, Sophie. Illus. by Rosanne Litzsinger. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 1999. Dorros, Arthur. Abuela. Illus. by Elisa Kleven. New York: Dutton, 1991. Gray, Libba Moore. My Mama Had A Dancing Heart. Illus. by Raul Colon. New York: Orchard, 1995. Fleming, Candace. Gabriella’s Song. Illus. by Giselle Potter. New York: Aladdin, 1997. Friend, Catherine. My Head Is Full of Colors. Illus. Kiki. New York: Hyperion, 1994. Gerrard, Roy. Rosie and the Rustlers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991. Grimes, Nikki. Meet Danitra Brown. Illus. by Floyd Cooper. New York: Mulberry, 1997. Hamanaka, Sheila. I Look Like a Girl. New York: Morrow, 1999. Henkes, Kevin. Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. New York: Greenwillow, 1996. Henkes, Kevin. Sheila Rae, The Brave. New York: Mulberry, 1996. Hest, Amy. When Jessie Came Across the Sea. Illus. by P.J. Lynch. Cambridge, Ma: Candlewick: 1997. Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace. Illus. by Caroline Binch. New York: Dial, 1991. Hoffman, Mary. Boundless Grace. Illus. by Caroline Binch. New York: Dial, 1995. Hoffman, Mary. Clever Katya: A Fairy Tale from Russia. Illus, by Marie Cameron. New York: Barefoot, 1998. Hopkinson, Deborah. A Band of Angels. Illus. by Raul Colon. New York: Atheneum, 1999. Hopkinson, Deborah. Maria’s Comet. Illus. by Deborah Lanino. New York: Atheneum, 1999. Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. Illus. James Ransome. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1993. Hopkinson, Deborah. Under the Quilt of Night. Illus. by James Ransome. New York: Atheneum, 2001. Howard, Elizabeth Fitzgerald. Chita's Christmas Tree. Illus. Floyd Cooper. New York: Bradbury Press, 1989. Isaacs, Anne. Swamp Angel. Illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky. New York: Dutton, 1994. Johnson, Dolores. Now Let Me Fly: The Story of a Slave Family. New York: Macmillan, 1993. Johnson, Dolores. Papa's Stories. New York: Macmillan, 1994. Kessler, Cristina. My Great-Grandmother’s Gourd. Illus. by Walter Lyon Krudop. New York: Orchard, 2000. Krishnaswami, Uma. Shower of Gold: Girls and Women in the Stories of India. Illus. by Maniam Selven. North Haven, CT: Linet, 1999. Krull, Kathleen. Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman. Illus. by David Diaz. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1996. Lasky, Kathryn. First Painter. Illus. by Rocco Baviera. New York: DK Ink, 2000. Lasky, Kathryn. Sea Swan. Illus. Catherine Stock. New York: Macmillan, 1988. Lasky, Kathryn. She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head! Illus. by David Catrow. New York: Hyperion, 1995. Lasky, Kathryn. Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker. Illus by Nneka Bennett. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2000. LeGuin, Ursula K. A Ride on the Red Mare's Back. Illus. Julie Downing. New York: Orchard, 1992. Lindenbaum, Pija. Bridget and the Gray Wolves. Stockholm: R&S Books, 2001. Lipp, Frederick. The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh. Illus. by Ronald Himler. New York: Holiday House, 2001. Lowell, Susan. Little Red Cowboy Hat. Illus. by Randy Cecil. New York: Holt, 1997. McCully, Emily Arnold. The Ballot Box Battle. New York: Dragonfly, 1998. McCully, Emily Arnold. Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu. New York: Levine, 1998. McCully, Emily Arnold. The Bobbin Girl. New York: Dial, 1996. McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette and Bellini Cross Niagara Falls. New York: Putnam, 2000. McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette on the High Wire. New York: Putnam, 1992. McCully, Emily Arnold. The Orphan Singer. New York: Levine, 2001. McCully, Emily Arnold. Starring Mirette and Bellini. New York: Putnam, 1997. McGill, Alice. Molly Bannaky. Illus. by Chris K. Soentpiet. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. McKissack, Patricia C. Flossie and the Fox. Illus. by Rachel Isadora. New York: Atheneum, 1986. McKissack, Patricia C. Going Someplace Special. Illus. by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Atheneum, 2001. McKissack, Patricia C. The Honest-to-Goodness Truth. Illus. by Giselle Potter. New York: Atheneum, 2000. McKissack, Patricia C. Mirandy and Brother Wind. Illus. Jerry Pinkney. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1988. McKissack, Patricia C. Nettie Jo's Friends. Illus. Scott Cook. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1989. McLerran, Alice. Roxaboxen. Illus. Barbara Cooney. New York: Lothrop, 1991. Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. Grandmother Bryant's Pocket. Illus. by Petra Mathers. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Mathers, Petra. Kisses from Rosa. New York: Apple Soup Books/Knopf, 1995. Martin, C. L. G. Three Brave Women. Illus. Peter Elwell. New York: Macmillan, 1991. Martin, Rafe. The Rough-Face Girl. Illus. by David Shannon. New York: Putnman, 1998. Meddaugh, Susan. Martha Walks the Dog. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Medearis, Angela Shelf. Our People. Illus. Michael Bryant. New York: Atheneum, 1994. Merriam, Eve. The Wise Woman and Her Secret. Illus. Linda Graves. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Merrill, Jean. The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars. Illus. by Floyd Cooper. New York: Philomel, 1992. Moss, Thylias. I Want To Be. Illus. Jerry Pinkney. New York: Dial, 1993. Nivola, Claire A. Elisabeth. New York: Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1997. Oppel, Kenneth. Peg and the Whale. Illus. by Terry Widener. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Paterson, Katherine. The King's Equal. Illus. Vladimir Vagin. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Polacco, Patricia. Babushka Baba Yaga. New York: New York: Philomel, 1993. Polacco, Patricia. Boat Ride with Lillian Two Blossom. New York: Philomel, 1988. Polacco, Patricia. The Butterfly. New York: Philomel, 2000. Polacco, Patricia.. The Keeping Quilt. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. Polacco, Patricia. Thunder Cake. New York: Philomel, 1990. Pulver, Robin. Axle Annie. Illus. by Ted Arnold. New York: Dial, 1999. Ringgold, Faith. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky. New York: Crown, 1992. Ringgold, Faith. Dinner at Aunt Connie's House. New York: Hyperion, 1993. Ringgold, Faith. The Invisible Princess. New York: Crown, 1999. Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. New York: New York: Crown, 1991. Rodriguez, Luis J. America Is her Name. Ilus. By Carlos Vasquez. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone, 1996. Rosenberg, Liz. Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow. Illus. by Beth Peck. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1996. Ryan, Pam Munoz. Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride. Illus. by Brian Selznick. New York: Scholastic, 1999. Rylant, Cynthia. When I Was Young in the Mountains. Illus. Diane Goode. New York: Dutton, 1982. Ryan, Pam Munoz. Riding Freedom. Illus. by Brian Selznick. New York: Scholastic, 1998. Rylant, Cynthia. The Bird House. Illus by Barry Moser. New York: Blue Sky, 1998. Rylant, Cynthia. The Old Woman Who Named Things. Illus. by Kathryn Brown. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1996. Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg. But God Remembered: Stories of Women from Creation to the Promised Land. Illus. by Bethanne Anderson. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1995. Schaefer, Carole Lea. The Squiggle. Illus by Pierr Morgan. New York: Crown, 1996. Schertle, Alice. Down the Road. Illus. E.B. Lewis. San Diego. CA: Browndeer Press/Harcourt Brace, 1995. Slipian, Jan. Emily Just in Time. Illus. by Glo Coalson. New York: Philomel, 1998. Stanley, Diane. Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter. New York: Morrow, 1997 Stewart, Sarah. The Gardener. Illus. by David Small. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Stops, Sue. Dulcie Dando, Soccer Star. Illus. Debi Gliori. New York: Holt, 1992. Thomas, Jane Resh. Lights on the River. Illus. Michael Dooling. New York: Hyperion, 1994. Thomas, Joyce Carol. Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea. Illus. Floyd Cooper. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Thomas, Joyce Carol. Cherish Me. Illus. by Nneka Bennett. New York: HarperFestival, 1998. Thomas. Joyce Carol. I Have Heard of a Land. Illus. by Floyd Cooper. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Trottier, Maxine. Prairie Willow. Illus.by Laura Fernandez & Rick Jacobson. New York; Stoddart, 1998. Turner, Ann. Sewing Quilts. Illus. Thomas B. Allen. New York: Macmillan, 1994. Uchida, Yoshiko. The Bracelet. Illus. Joanna Yardley. New York: Philomel, 1993. Uchida, Yoshiko. The Wise Old Woman. Illus. Martin Springett. New York: Margaret McElderry, 1994. Wells, Rosemary. Noisy Nora. New York: Viking, 2000. Wells, Rosemary. Streets of Gold. New York: Dial, 1999. Wild, Margaret. Our Granny. Illus. by Julie Vivas. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Williams, Sherley Anne. Working Cotton. Illus. Carole Byard. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. Williams, Suzanne. Library Lil. Ills. By Steven Kellogg. New York: Puffin, 1997. Williams, Vera B. A Chair for My Mother. New York: Greenwillow, 1982. Williams, Vera B. Something Special for Me. New York: Greenwillow, 1983. Woodson, Jacqueline. The Other Side. Illus. by E. B. White. New York: Putnam, 2001. Yolen, Jane. The Ballad of the Pirate Queens. Illus. by David Shannon. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Yolen, Jane. Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Yolen, Jane. Letting Swift River Go. Illus. Barbara Cooney. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1992. BACKGROUND READINGS ON FEMALE VOICES American Association of University Women. “Beyond the “Gender Wars”: A Conversation about Girls, Boys, and Education. Washington, DC: AAUW Education Foundation, 2001. American Association of University Women. Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail our Children. AAUW Education Foundation, 1998. American Association of University Women. Girls in the Middle: Working to Succeed in School. AAUW Education Foundation, 1996. American Association of University Women. Growing Smart: What’s Working for Girls in School. AAUW Education Foundation, 1995. American Association of University Women and Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. How Schools Shortchange Girls. Washington, DC: AAUW Education Foundation, 1992. American Association of University Women. Separated by Sex: A Critical Look at Single-Sex Education for Girls. AAUW Education Foundation, 1998. American Association of University Women. “Si, Se Puedo! Yes, We Can: Latinas in School. Washington, DC: AAUW Education Foundation, 2000. American Association of University Women. Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age. AAUW Education Foundation, 2000. Arnot, Madeleine. Reproducing Gender?: Selected Critical Essays on Educational Theory and Feminist Politics. New York: Routledge, 2002. Arrighi, Barbara. Understanding Inequality: The Intersection of Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Gender. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001. Bauermeister, Erica and Holly Smith. Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. New York: Penguin, 1997. Belenky, Mary Field and Others. Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and the Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1986. Cantu, Norma Elia. Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002. Castelli, Elizabeth A. and Rosamond C. Rodman, Eds. Women, Gender, Religion: A Reader. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2001. Clark, Beverly Lyon. Regendering the School Story: Sassy Sissies and Tattling Tomboys. New York: Garland, 1996. Curators of University of Missouri Staff. Gender, Equity and Schooling: Policy and Practice. New York: Garland, 1997. Clegg, Sue. “Theorising the Machine: Gender, Education, and Computing.” Gender & Education Vol.13 No. 3 (Sept. 2001): 307-325. Fisher, Berenice Malka. No Angel in the Classroom: Teaching Through Feminist Discourse .Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001. Freedman, Estelle. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Ballantine, 2002. Gallas, Karen. “Sometimes I Can Be Anything”: Power, Gender, and Identity in a Primary Classroom. New York: Teacher’s College Press, 1998. Gardiner, Judith Kegan. Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. The Girl Child: An Investment in the Future. A Project of the UNICEF Ontario Education for Development Committee. Ontario, CA: UNICEF/Ontario, 1994. Goldberger, Nancy and others., eds. Knowledge, Difference, and Power: Essays Inspired by Women's Ways of Knowing. New York: Harper, 1996. Gurian, Michael. Girls and Boys Learn Differently: A Guide for Teachers and Parents. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Hancock, Emily. The Girl Within. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989. Heilbrun, Carolyn G. Writing A Woman's Life. New York: Random House, 1988. Hoffman, Nancy. Keeping Gender on the Chalkboard: Notes for a New Century of Middle and High School Teachers, Vol. 28. New York: Feminist Press, 2000. Jamison, Linda, and Molly Dietz. Leadership--Is Gender an Issue?: Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1997. Kimmel, Michael S. The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford, 2000. Kimmel, Michael S. The Gendered Society Reader. New York: Oxford, 2000. Leblanc, Lauraine. Pretty in Punk: Girls’ Gender Resistance in a Boys’ Subculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1999. Lehr, Susan, Ed. Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Construction of Gender in Children’s Literature. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. Lesko, Nancy, Ed. Masculinities at School. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000. Lichtenberg, Greg. Playing Catch with my Mother: Coming to Manhood When All the Rules Have Changed. New York: Bantam, 2000. McKnown, Clark and Rona S. Weinstein. “Modeling the Role of Child Ethnicity and Gender in Children’s Differential Response to Teacher Expectations.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Vol. 32 No. 1 (Jan. 2002): 159-185. Maher, France A. and Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault. The Feminist Classroom: Dynamics of Gender, Race, and Privilege. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001. Mann, Judy. The Difference: Growing Up Female in America. New York: Time Warner, 1994. Martino, Wayne John. Gendered Fiction. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2000. Maschke, Karen. Educational Equity. New York: Garland, 1997. Mayberry, Maralee, Lisa Weasel, and Banu Subramaniam, Eds. Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation. New York: Routledge, 2001. Mills, Sara, ed. Gendering the Reader. New York: Harvester/Wheatsheaf, 1994. Moraga Cherrie and Gloria Anzaldua, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 2nd. ed. Latham, NY: Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press, 1983. Morton, Patricia. Disfigured Images: The Historical Assault on Afro-American Women. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1991. Odean, Kathleen. Great Books for Girls. New York: Ballantine, 1997. O’Farrell, Mary Ann and Lynne Vallone, Eds. Virtual Gender: Fantasies of Subjectivity and Embodiment. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1999. Orenstein, Peggy. School Girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Pemberton, Cynthia Lee A. More than a Game: One Woman’s Fight for Gender Equity in Sport. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 2002. Perry, Theresa and James W. Fraser, eds. Freedom's Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom. New York: Routledge, 1993. Polkey, Pauline, Ed. Women’s Lives into Print: The Theory, Practice, and Writing of Feminist Autobiography. New York: St. Martin, 1999. Polster, Miriam F. Eve's Daughters: The Forbidden Heroism of Women. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1992. Rensenbrink, Carla Washburne. All in our Places: Feminist Challenges in Elementary School Classrooms. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001. Riordan, Cornelius. “The Silent Gender Gap. Education Week on the Web. November 17, 1999. Available: http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=12riordan.h19. Accessed: 2/17/02. Rodrick, Linda and Dyanne M. Tracy. “Gender Cultures in a Science Classroom: Teaching that Frees Girls and Boys to Learn.” Equity and Excellence in Education Vol. 34 No. 2 (Sept 2001): 29-35. Ruiz, Vicki and Ellen Carol DuBois, eds. Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge, 1994. Sadker, Myra and David Sadker. Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls. New York: Charles Scribner's, 1994. Secada, Walter G. Perspectives on Multiculturalism and Gender Equity. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000. Smith, Barbara. The Truth that Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Stone, Lynda, ed. The Education Feminism Reader. New York: Routledge, 1994. Stepulevage, Linda. “Gender/Technology Relations: Complicating the Gender Binary.” Gender & Education Vol. 13 No. 3 (Sept 2001): 324-339. Sweetman, Caroline. Men’s Involvement in Gender and Development. Oxford, UK: Oxfam, 2001. Thorne, Barrie. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1993. Thornham, Sue. Feminist Theory and Cultural Studies: Stories of Unsettled Relations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Vandergrift, Kay E. "A Feminist Perspective on Multicultural Children's Literature in the Middle Years of the Twentieth Century," Library Trends. Vol. 41 (Winter 1993): 354-377. Vandergrift, Kay E. "A Feminist Research Agenda in Youth Literature," Wilson Library Bulletin. Vol. 68 (October, 1993): 23-27. Vandergrift, Kay E.. "And Bid Her Sing: A White Feminist Reads African-American Female Poets," in African-American Voices in Young Adult Literature: Tradition, Transition, Transformation. Karen P. Smith, ed. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994, pp.31-77. Vandergrift, Kay E. "Peacocks, Dreams, Quilts, and Honey: Patricia Polacco, A Woman's Voice of Remembrance," in Ways of Knowing: Literature and the Intellectual Life of Children. ed. by Kay E. Vandergrift. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996, pp. 259-288. Vandergrift, Kay E. "Journey or Destination: Female Voices in Youth Literature," in Mosaics of Meaning: Enhancing the Intellectual Life of Young Adults Through Story. ed. by Kay E. Vandergrift. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996, pp. 17-45. Weiler, Kathleen. Feminist Engagements: Reading, Resisting, and Revisioning Male Theorists in Education and Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 2001. Weis, Lois and Michelle Fine, eds. Beyond Silenced Voices: Class, Race, and Gender in United States Schools. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993. Zinsser, Judith. History and Feminism: A Glass Half Full. New York: Twayne, 1993. November 10, 110 Created September 20, 1995 and is continuously revised SCILS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey