Girl Power, huh? You may be thinking, girls didn’t have much, if any, “power” over their lives many decades and centuries ago. Weren’t girls back in the Middle Ages, The Renaissance period, even the 1700 and 1800s oppressed, without choice, without the right to vote, even? Marriages were arranged, ownership of land and businesses not allowed by law. Women couldn’t and didn’t work outside the home (unless you were a maid or a governess, and then mostly for room and board and a pittance salary).

I still remember when the marvelous novel, Catherine, Called Birdy was published. Of course, it won the Newbery Medal and the Golden Kite Award for 1995, and it is a gorgeously written, emotional and heartfelt book about a girl’s life in Middle Ages England – a time period not written about much until Karen Cushman came along who had spent years researching this era. Catherine (or Birdy as she is nicknamed because she keeps birds) is a teenage girl about to be married off to a curmudgeonly old man – and ends up rebelling because she does not *want* to be married to a curmudgeonly old man with nose hair. She makes those wishes known in various ways, using her wit and manipulation to get out of the marriage her father is trying to arrange throughout the entire novel.

BUT. I also remember that there was quite a bit of discussion when the book was published about Catherine’s rebellious and outspoken personality by those who said it wasn’t realistic as it could be because girls of that era were – 99.9% of the time – not given any options or choices in their lives, no matter the aspect. Catherine should have–or would have–rolled over and married the slug.

I remember thinking that same thing about the novel “way back when” myself (I think I was easily influenced by others!), but my opinion has been changing due to more books, movies, and information that continues to come out about exceptional women in our world’s history . . . and maybe that is due to the fact that times have changed because we are talking more about women and their importance! Which is a good thing!

It’s true that back in the Middle Ages up until the 20th century women couldn’t vote, could not own land/property/business, inherited practically nothing from their fathers, couldn’t work other than some sort of housekeeping, and had little say in their lives. At the same time, history is also FULL of examples of women and girls who did remarkable things with their lives. Women who broke away from the norm. Women who were daring and adventurous and traveled and had careers in the arts, in exploration, in science, etc.

Just a very few examples of women who had great influence over their lives and/or their countries, even the world:

Marie Cure
Nellie Bly
Joan of Arc
Clara Barton
Florence Nightingale
Amelia Earhart
Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan
Wives of U.S. Presidents
Mother Theresa
The Queens of Great Britain, Europe, and Egypt!

Countless pioneer and pilgrim women who sailed and traveled and worked the land and fought hardships of every kind over the last few hundred years.

Missionary women throughout history who traveled and lived in every part of the world rendering aid, humanitarian efforts as well as education.

Famous Women in History

Top 100 Most Famous Women in History, Compiled by a Girl Scout!

The problem is that most women were never recognized, respected or lauded for their accomplishments.

And we’ve all heard the saying: “Behind every good man, there’s a good woman!” (Examples in this link in a USA Today article about upcoming movies where they focused on the wife as much as the successful man) 

Most men accomplished much of what they succeeded at because of their invisible wife/woman who supported, encouraged, and usually took risks right along beside them.

Today, more than ever there are dozens, nay, even hundreds of novels as well as non-fiction books published about the lives of girls and teens who influenced the world in some way, or made a better life for themselves and their families.

Carolyn Meyer is probably the most prolific historical fiction writer of our time. She has published well over 50 books about girls who made an impact on the world. Go to the link to see some of her books about girls/teens. And she continues to publish 1-2 novels per year so keep an eye on her!

Then go to your library or bookstore and look/ask for more titles.

Don’t  forget to check out new non-fiction, too, with updated information never told before, like the amazing Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming.

I haven’t even begun to touch the surface of this amazing category with inspiring and true life stories of real women who actually lived and did change the world.

Have fun taking a research and shopping trip of your own – for yourself, or the girls and boys in your life.

Brand new Non-fiction published this week: STRIKE! Mother Jones and the Colorado Coal Field War (circa 1913) by Lois Ruby.

In the comments, please share your favorite girl/woman in history and a book title about them. If there isn’t one written about them, then go write it yourself! What are you waiting for?

Kimberley Griffiths Little‘s third middle-grade novel,When the Butterflies Came, will be published April, 2013. She will make her Young Adult debut with Harpercollins Fall of 2013. Meanwhile, she’s busy writing the next book for Scholastic and trying not to eat too many chocolate chip cookies!

About six weeks ago I attended my first IRA (International Reading Association) annual conference in Chicago.

I got to go as a Presenter, and not as an Attendee – a first for me at a major conference! Nine authors from around the country (moi included) were shocked to have our all day panel workshop accepted and after numerous phone calls and hundreds of emails to plan our eight-hour workshop, we were off!

We spoke to a room full of reading specialists, teachers and librarians, as well as teachers and librarians who aspire to be writers themselves and wanted all our inner *secrets* – which we gladly gave them. What was so great about it, is that everything we talked about and demonstrated can be used in the classroom or at home.

Our topic? Rekindling the Reading Fire – Using the Story Strategies of Professional Authors to Inspire a Love of Reading and Writing.

Please Raise Your Hand if you’ve ever attended IRA!! 25,000 people attend every year – at least – from all over the world. We had a women from Nigeria and England as well as all over the USA – and those are just the ones I personally got to chat with during breaks and lunch.

In the comments below, we’d love to hear your thoughts and impressions of any past IRA experiences and how it helped you as a teacher.

With eight hours to fill from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., of course we had to break the day into segments. We discussed aspects of story techniques, The Hero’s Journey, plotting, prose, poetry, verse novels, middle grade, fantasy, young adult novels, picture books, history, and research.We also did several hands-on writing exercises – things the teachers could take back with them to the classroom to use with their students. (Here’s a link to info about The Creative Diary; a classroom hands-on writing workshop as an example of what authors do when they visit schools.)

Since we have the most awesome readers here at From the Mixed-Up Files, I’m including links to a few of our handouts from the day. Use them for yourself or your own kids or the students in your classroom.The ones below were created by the wonderful author and former elementary school teacher, Caroline Starr Rose of MAY B fame.

1. Easy Stick Man Character Sketch

2. Where in the World are We Reading?

3. Book Travel Log with Specific Writing Exercises and Games

I paired up with Kersten Hamilton and we spent one of the slots of time discussing Fantasy: all types and genres, but more importantly, the great way fantasy books can be used with kids to expand their minds and their creativity. Books with even just a splash of magical realism can get kids to enlarge their reading horizons into other more *serious* books, like historical novels or straight contemporary stories – step by step. (See my Handout below for title ideas).

I created a PDF about fantasy books for Middle-Grade and Young Adult readers. I DEFINE each fantasy GENRE (there are 11!) as well give 3-4 EXAMPLES of current books for each genre. And here it is for easy download:

THE VIEW FROM UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF FANTASY

Our IRA Panel of Authors (in case you’re curious):

Carolee Dean

Uma Krishnaswami

Carolyn Meyer

April Halprin Wayland

Esther Hershenhorn

Caroline Starr Rose

Kersten Hamilton

Lisa Schroeder

Kimberley Griffiths Little

Hope the links and Handouts help you in your own reading and teaching adventures!

Kimberley turns in her proofread typeset pages of her next novel (Spring, 2013), WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME *today* and will be napping this afternoon. (*crosses fingers*)

If you’d like to see the dazzling cover Scholastic’s design team and artist Erin McGuire created, go here to take a peek and enter the NINE book giveaway on her blog: www. kimberleygriffithslittle.blogspot.com

So I’ve been “thinking” the past few months . . . (“A dangerous activity!” my husband likes to tell me!)  Since I’m a sloooooow learner it’s taken me many years to realize something about myself, and I had an epiphany of sorts after the recent launch of my newest middle-grade ghost story, Circle of Secrets (Scholastic), and the manuscript I just finished editing last week, When the Butterflies Came (April, 2013, Scholastic).

Both of these books have elements of magical realism. (Well, maybe not *that* magical because ghosts are actually real, aren’t they? I like to think so! Does anybody remember the movie, Ghost with Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze? Oh my! )

I digress.

In these stories, I write about charm bracelets and secret notes in a bottle tree and old porcelain dolls and keys that unlock mysterious doors, and it suddenly occurred to me that the books of my childhood—the books I read over and over again—have influenced me more than I ever realized. Because as a kid I *loved* books with these kind of magical and mysterious artifacts. OR is it that all of these elements are things I already loved so I gravitate toward books with those elements in my reading—and now I’m writing books with those elements? Sort of a chicken and egg phenomenon . . . but still.

How much do our favorite books as a child influence what we read as an adult? Have your tastes changed much? I do find that I read more widely and eclectically as an adult, and I like to try unusual books I’ve heard good reviews about. I mean, I don’t *just* read books about magical dolls!

And for the writers out there, how have your childhood favorites influenced you in the topics you choose to write about now?

But here’s the thing: As I was writing Circle of Secrets and When the Butterflies Came, I never consciously added the various elements of dolls, charm bracelets, and old-fashioned skeleton keys to the story. After all, I haven’t actually perused my childhood favorites in many years. (Too busy reading all the fantastic new books in the children’s lit scene!)

No, my story ideas evolved as I was first thinking about complicated mother/daughter relationships. Girls and their moms who were carrying secrets and hurts and guilt that keep them apart. And I was thinking about what it was like live in a small town on a bayou. Or an island in the South Pacific. And I was thinking about families and sisters and forgiveness and love and how complicated people are and our relationships. And my brain was doing things like, “Ooh, what if this happened? Or this! Or that!” as I furiously scribbled notes, having small epiphanies, and getting excited as a kid when all those elements start clicking into a real story with twists and turns.

It hasn’t been until AFTER I plotted, drafted, revised and copy-edited that the final epiphany came—that I’m writing the kind of books I loved to read as a child. And that’s been a really satisfying epiphany. So now that we all feel warm and squishy, here are three favorite books from when I was a kid (not counting Nancy Drew and Harriet the Spy!):

MAGIC ELIZABETH by Norma Kassirer is about a girl named Sally who has to stay with a cranky old aunt for a few weeks. Feeling lonely, she finds a mirror in the attic that transports her to the past where she sees the life of a girl unfold—a girl who lived in this very house long ago. Sally experiences what the girl from the past, Sarah, experiences over a period of strange, dreamlike weeks—including the disappearance of Sarah’s beloved doll named Elizabeth. As Sally becomes embroiled in the events of the past—she eventually figures out the clues that will lead her to finding Elizabeth, the lost doll from sixty years ago.

THE LITTLE WHITE HORSE by Elizabeth Goudge

Who says Moms can’t find great books for their kids to read? My mother read a review of this book in a kid’s magazine when I was about ten-years-old and thought I’d like it. Oh, boy, I LOVED it! Read it over and over again. Set in what I used to call the “olden days” about an orphan girl going to stay with her unusual Uncle at Moonacre Manor;  in parts both realistic and magical. In fact, this book has so many unusual and wonderful characters and plot threads it’s difficult to summarize.

Imagine my surprise to read this by J. K. Rowling: “The Little White Horse was my favorite novel as a child. I absolutely adored it. It had a cracking plot. It was scary and romantic in parts and had a feisty heroine.”

TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE by Carol Ryrie Brink (Yes, the author of Caddie Woodlawn fame!)

This is the story of two best friends during the turn of the 20th century who receive a pair of dolls for Christmas and together begin writing a story about the dolls, letting them experience adventure and danger and romance—as the girls grow up and deal with school and friendship and family. The dolls show up again decades later when the two girls are old and widowed—with a surprise for the reader.

So I’m curious about all of YOU. What were your fav books as a child? Do you read the same kinds of books you did as a child? Have you found that those books have informed you and your life in any particular way?

Kimberley’s busy trying to avoid the candy aisle at the grocery store and prepping for IRA THIS weekend in Chicago! If you live in Chicago and/or are attending IRA (International Reading Association) please come say hello to me THIS Monday, April 30th at the Scholastic Booth from 3-4 p.m. I will be signing books and chatting up a storm.

Y’all are also invited to a fantastic pre-conference workshop Sunday from 9a.m. – 5 p.m. with NINE authors! Pretty cool, eh? IRA Institute 12: Rekindling the Reading fire – Author Panel – Using the story strategies of Professional Authors to Inspire a Love of Reading and Writing with Carolee Dean, Caroline Starr Rose, Esther Hershenshorn, April Halprin Wayland, Carolyn Meyer, Kersten Hamilton, Lisa Schroeder, Uma Krishnaswami, and Moi!  www.kimberleygriffithslittle.com