We have just recently concluded our Girl Power and Women’s Wiles bimonthly theme. And as such, we’d like to share a summary of the books we managed to review and those we would still like to recommend though we didn’t have a chance to feature them here. I’d try to arrange them according to genre. Click on the image and the link to be taken to our reviews of the book.
Picture Book Biographies/ Nonfiction MG-YA Novels
Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford and Artwork by Floyd Cooper
Me… Jane by Patrick McDonnell – a picture book biography of Jane Goodall
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat Ella Fitzgerald by Roxanne Orgil and illustrated by Sean Qualls
Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo and illustrated by Julia Denos – a picture book biography of Audrey Hepburn – reviewed by Fats
Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu with story and pictures by Emily Arnold McCully
Crow Call by Lois Lowry and Illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline
More Picture Books
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans – reviewed by Fats
Jessica by Kevin Henkes – reviewed by Fats
Imogene’s Last Stand by Candace Fleming and Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Imogene’s Antlers by David Small
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and Illustrations by David Small
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness
Birdie’s Lighthouse by Deborah Hopkinson and Illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root
Stella, Star of the Sea by Marie-Louise Gay – reviewed by Fats
Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl who Floated by Florence Parry Heide and Lane Smith
Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter by Diane Stanley – reviewed by Fats
Tam Lin as retold by Susan Cooper and illustrations by Warwick Hutton
Girl Power and Newbery Medal books
The research that I am doing at present has something to do with themes and trajectories in award-winning Filipino children’s books as part of my conference presentation in Boston this June. As such, I was able to read quite a number of manuscripts that talk about girl power and award-winning young adult fiction novels. I made sure to borrow a few in keeping with our theme. Here are several Newbery titles that we managed to review.
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
There were a few more books that we read and borrowed from the library but did not have a chance to feature during this period. You might want to check out these Newbery Medal books that highlight female protagonists if you have a chance.
YA Fiction and Adult Lit
Here are a few other award-winning YA fiction/adult lit novels that you might want to explore.
Crossing Stones by Helen Frost
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness – a focus on the Silence of Viola Eade
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness – a focus on the healing powers of Mistress Coyle
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – a special focus on the character of Katniss Everdeen – reviewed by Iphigene
The Crow Girl by Bodil Bredsdorff as reviewed by Fats
The Wild Book by Margarita Engle
Best Friends by Anna Wilson and illustrated by Nicola Slater – a Quill Junior contribution
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall – reviewed by Iphigene
Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin – reviewed by Iphigene
Poetry
Since we didn’t have a featured poet for our Poet’s Sanctum, we decided to feature poets that speak of womanity and celebrate what it is like to be female for Poetry Friday. Here are a few poets we have featured during our bimonthly theme.
A Women’s Issue by Margaret Atwood
A Love Poem by Marguerite Burnat-Provins
Woman to Man by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
In Celebration of My Uterus by Anne Sexton
Gathering Books 
It’s such an impressive list, Myra. I’ve tried to think of some others. These are from past years & I still recommend them for the strong female figures: Dicey of “Dicey’s Song” (Newbery) in the series by Cynthia Voigt, the main character of The Blue Sword (Newbery Honor) & The Hero & The Crown (Newbery) by Robin McKinley are old favorites. Thanks for all this wrap-up too.
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Hi Linda, I’ve heard a lot about the Tillerman cycle and I’m truly excited to read the entire 7-volume series (it is 7, right?). I am still missing a few titles though. I also noted that there are a lot of Newbery Honor books that look into girl power and female characters. Hopefully I can check out more of those.
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Great list! 🙂 A women’s history book that my kids really liked is “You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer” by Shana Corey and Chesley Mclaren.
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Hi Tabatha, I think I’ve seen that featured during Women’s History Month! I should really look for that one.
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