On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525471707 ISBN 13: 9780525471707

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2004

Synopsis

From authors such as Linda Sue Park and Donna Jo Napoli, an anthology offers readers a diverse collection of stories and poems about the struggles, joys, and dramas experienced in becoming a teenage girl.

About this title

About the Author

Sandy Asher has written many novels and plays and has edited several collections of essays, including With All My Heart, With All My Mind: Thirteen Stories About Growing Up Jewish, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Reviews

Grade 4-8--This anthology celebrates growing up female as the protagonists tackle and embrace new experiences and changes in their lives. In a selection by Francess Lantz, readers meet Joanie Frankenhauser, who spends a day pretending to be a boy when the teacher at her new school mispronounces her name. Sheila Solomon Klass offers a delightful piece in which a young Annie Oakley convinces her mother to let her use her talents with a gun despite the fact that it is not ladylike. In June Rae Wood's "Flying Free," readers will empathize with Joretta, a girl recovering from polio, who is left with her aunt when her mother disappears and who wants to know the truth about where Mama is. In Sandy Asher's "The Secret behind the Stone," Lindsay tries to decide what to do when she learns that her new friend is being abused at home. Other contributors include Marion Dane Bauer, Patricia Calvert, Angela Johnson, Donna Jo Napoli, and Linda Sue Park. The stories and poems are entertaining and engrossing, presenting likable characters who learn valuable lessons on their journeys to womanhood.--Janet Hilbun, formerly at Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX
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Gr. 4-8. In the introduction to this anthology, Asher writes that she was a smart, outspoken kid until seventh grade, when, "Rather than risk not 'fitting in,' I became very quiet." The poems and stories here, contributed by familiar authors for youth, feature strong girls who, like Asher, struggle to maintain their "invincible spirit" in the midst of contrary pressures. The selections show girls' frustration and bewilderment: "My horse doesn't care . . . about my hair or think I'm too smart / for my own good," says the speaker in Miriam Bat Ami's poem "This Is the Way It Is"; "That's all sixth grade seemed to be about--tears and crazy things," complains the narrator of Bonny Becker's story "The Makeover." There are also several empowering pieces, including a lively historical story that imagines a young, "unladylike" Annie Oakley. A few of the poems use sophisticated, challenging imagery, but most of the selections are accessible and often inspiring, and many girls will recognize their own challenges in the spirited heroines who long to show their smarts. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525471707
• ISBN 13: 9780525471707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224