Girlhood across Time: Portrayals of Girlhood in Award-Winning Historical Fiction Novels

Children's Literature Assembly. e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/journal.html

Y

12

Fiction; History; Awards; Females; Gender Issues; Literary Devices; Social Influences; Childrens Attitudes; Political Attitudes; Social Attitudes; Modern History; Social History; Social Change; Time Perspective; Current Events

1521-7779

When we considered how current sociopolitical events may impact experiences of girlhood today and remembered our own lived girlhood experiences, we came to the collective realization that we often turned to books as a way to make sense of our liminal experiences during girlhood. Given the sociopolitical moment in which we are living and considerations of the impact historical fiction had on our own navigation of girlhood, our author team wondered how historical fiction texts could help young readers to understand and navigate the liminal experiences of girlhood today. Building from these analyses of connections between the past and present in historical fiction literature, we interrogate girlhood across time to consider what readers might learn about contemporary girlhood from historical texts. Depictions of history often tend to be white-centric and to omit or deemphasize the histories and stories of other communities. Specifically, the lens of new historicism applied to portrayals of girlhood allowed for an examination of these portraits of girlhood in relation to historical context as well as power dynamics. This analysis broadens readers' notions of girlhood, both historically and in the present day, beyond white-centric conceptions.

ERIC

2024

EJ1419956