This article analyses the link between female characters with reading and study through the analysis of 35 works of American children’s literature published between 2000 and 2021. They are award-winning works - written by American women - aimed at a child audience and whose female main characters who are eager readers. We can conclude that, through reading, the female main characters of these books will achieve a space for emancipation, self-knowledge, and transformation of reality.
Article Details
How to Cite
Gómez-López-Quiñones, L. (2023). A room for them: Female characters and reading in contemporary American Children’s Literature. Ocnos. Journal of reading research, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2023.22.2.340
Gómez-López-Quiñones: A room for them. Female characters and reading in contemporary American Children’s
Literature
Introduction
In childhood, we normally absorb all the information we receive without questioning
it. Therefore, it is extremely important - almost an ethical duty to us - to analyse
any cultural product intended to be consumed at an early age (), especially when these cultural products are disseminating and perpetuating ideological
and civil values, as is the case of gender equality.
Children’s and young adult stories help readers construct their gender identity. This
is an especially relevant issue if we consider that the influence of literature on
the construction of each person’s identity begins at a very early age ().
states that children’s and young adult literature is a very important means to convey
cultural and ideological values. Therefore, many of the plays and their characters
articulate the norms of behaviour and emotions that girls will identify with. Many
authors highlight the importance of children’s and young adult literature (hereinafter
LIJ, as per its Spanish acronym) for the shaping of our gender identity, for the preservation
of hypostasised roles and for fostering or preventing sexist attitudes (; ; ). Although children’s literature conveys values that can strengthen existing stereotypes
or, on the contrary, oppose them (), the truth is that, until the 1970s, the general tendency was to segregate certain
values and qualities very clearly to one gender or the other, associating female characters
with more active and leading values, and relegating female characters to more passive
roles (; ; ). Proof of this is that, even in contemporary LIJ, female main characters are fewer
and they are generally represented in a more stereotypical way (;; ; ; ; ; ).
Although it is true that - especially from the second half of the 20th century onwards - there were already numerous works that carried the germ of a revolutionary
message regarding gender issues (; ), it is also true that, for decades, children’s fiction has historically presented
a rigid and sexist image of men as superior, stronger and more rational beings, showing
women as weak and inferior in their rational and intellectual capacities (). One of the aspects that have helped to perpetuate these strict gender roles in
LIJ is the association of male characters with public-intellectual tasks and female
characters with domestic tasks: “It is possible to identify the symbolic association,
on the one hand, of women with nature [...] On the other hand, men are associated
with culture, and thus with the creation of symbols”. (). In fact, one of the clichés traditionally assigned to women is that of “little intellectual development” (). This can be seen, for example, in the different objects linked to female and male
characters. In a very enlightening study, conclude that the apron is one of the objects most frequently linked to women, while
objects such as glasses (which could be a metonymy of training and logical intelligence)
are often linked to men.
However, the role of women in children’s literature has evolved significantly. In
addition to the roles traditionally reserved for women, today we also find heroines
of all kinds: Warriors, philosophers, rebels or compulsive readers as in this case
(). We are progressively finding female characters who are more connected to the intellectual
sphere. In fact, one of the demands of classical feminism has been women’s access
to education: “Feminism and education go hand in hand. Education is the first demand
of feminists and is present in their agenda at all times” ().
Liberal feminism, and specifically the writer , agrees on this point, and she argues the need for women to have a minimum of wellbeing
and economic stability to provide them with sufficient existential tranquillity to
be able to read, educate themselves, reflect and, from there, act in order to emancipate
themselves and achieve autonomy.
In this article, the link between female characters and reading will be analysed.
The 35 works analysed show female characters in a continuous and close relationship
with books. Referring to Virginia Woolf's famous essay, A room of one’s own (1929/2014),
in the works we are going to analyse, reading gives the female characters a space
of autonomy and reflexivity in which to gain awareness of the world and of themselves.
The female individual develops and articulates her own vision of the world and a way
of being in it through reading. Reading is a kind of immaterial space where women
forge themselves and can gain strength, resilience and self-confidence (1929/2014).
Method
In this paper, a descriptive and interpretative analysis of American children’s literature
so far in the 21st century has been conducted. Bearing in mind that it is impossible to analyse all
the books published since 2000, a corpus of 35 works has been used. The following
criteria were used to make this selection; all the books selected:
- Were originally written and published in English.
- Are aimed at children (0-12 years).
- Were published from 2000 onwards (in particular between 2000 and 2021).
- Are written by women who are US citizens or residents.
- Feature female characters.
- Are fiction books (biographies are not included).
- Are award-winning works.
The methodology followed was qualitative, based on the descriptive analysis of texts
and the analytical reading of the works. It is documentary research that “uses data
extracted from the analysis, review and interpretation of documents that provide relevant
information for understanding the phenomenon” (). This way, the presence and characteristics of girls and women readers have been
studied as the main theme and guiding thread of this essay. This presence has been
traced in both texts and illustrations, as stereotypical behaviours are identified
in LIJ both through the written word and through the pictures that accompany it ().
However, the fact that there are female readers does not per se guarantee that it is a co-educational work or that it seeks to reflect egalitarian
behaviour. Therefore, the link between female characters and reading and their impact
on their subjective shaping and on the development of the plot has been critically
analysed according to the following criteria:
- Reading has an impact on the plot of the work.
- The girls in these books show socio-cultural and ethnic diversity and represent
different models of femininity.
- Reading, more than just a hobby, is important in the lives of the main characters.
- Girls connect with other characters and with themselves through reading.
- Reading helps them to look for solutions and alternatives in their lives.
- Reading helps them to rebel and empower themselves.
Two main types of sources were used to compile the list of 35 selected books:
- On the one hand, the lists of renowned awards for this genre of books: Medalla Cadecott,
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Ezra Jack Keats Award y Children´s Literature Legacy
Award.
- In addition, the following repositories and journals have also been consulted: Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus reviews, 2x2 Reading list from Texas Library Association and Best books Publishers Weekly.
Analysis of the works
Despite the fact that there is still a predominance of the masculine in all areas
of culture and that gender stereotypes are still perpetuated, so far in the 21st century, children’s literature has been giving more and more space to female roles
in order to present a more contemporary and real vision of women and girls in all
their facets (;; ; ).
One of these aspects is their relationship with reading; through their contact with
books, the female characters in the works we are going to analyse forge themselves,
achieve a greater degree of autonomy and self-awareness and even help to resolve the
plots.
Reading as a hobby
The girls in these stories often love reading, and spend much of their time surrounded
by books, as is the case with the Ling and Ting sisters in the popular series of books
by author Grace Linn. The book Ling and Ting, not exactly the same (2010) starts with one of the sisters reading and the other interrupting her to ask
her to tell her a story.
There are many other books in which we find this link between female characters and
reading:
In , the main character, Flora, is a child and an eager reader: “I like letters and I
like words” (p. 67). Flora is not the only character with a passion for reading. So
are her mother, who is involved in a children's book club, and Miss Meriwether, who
owns a second-hand bookshop she founded.
This passion can also be seen in Vita Murrow's original reinterpretation of Snow White (2018), in which Snow White’s main hobby is reading: “She didn’t have to attend events
with her stepmother, so with her free time, she read newspapers and stories […]” (p.
84).
Another classic of contemporary American literature is the Bink and Gollie series, published by Kate DiCamillo between 2010 and 2013. Reading is part of the
routine of the two friends and is often the starting point for many adventures that
will make them expand their world, mature and strengthen their friendship. It is not
surprising, then, that the two main characters are often shown reading (picture 1).
Picture 1Bink and Gollie. Best Friends forever. Illustrations by Tony Fucile
Reading is not only a very important hobby for girls, but also a bonding activity
through which they can spend time together, whether they are two friends, two sisters,
two classmates, or a mother and daughter. For example, the Ling and Ting sisters always
buy their books with the intention of exchanging them among themselves: “She sees
a book that she wants to read. -I will buy this book for Ting- Ling says -Maybe she
will share it with me” ().
In the illustrations of many of the books at stake, we can see this kind of sisterhood
reinforced by the common bond of reading. In some cases, such as Bink and Gollie (), Bedtime for mommy () or How to babysit a grandma (), it is simply a shared hobby, but in others, such as The doll people (), Poems in the attic () or The only black girls in town (), it is a means that helps them achieve collective empowerment (image 2).
Picture 2The Doll people. Illustrations by Brian Selznick
Another of the most interesting themes that emerge in this corpus of works is the
close and peculiar bond that is established between the female characters and the
books and which, in some ways, is completely different from that experienced by the
male characters:
Laure Adler argues that there is a special link between women and books. “Books”"
she writes, “are not for women an object like any other. […] a warm current circulates
between them and us, a secret affinity, a strange and singular relationship” [...]
Perhaps there does exist, then, a special attitude of women towards reading, perhaps
it has played a singular and different role in our lives, and has helped us to acquire
another vision of the world [...] ().
In , there is a paragraph that perfectly exemplifies this close relationship between
women and books; the mother of the main character works in a used bookshop and does
so because “it put her in touch with paper. That´s how her mother described it. Holding
books and seeing the printed black ink on the pages made her mother happy. She felt
useful, her mother said. Useful to books” (p. 32).
In contrast, the male characters in the selected corpus have a very different relationship
not only with books and reading but also with the broader field of knowledge and learning.
In this line of thought, states: “Studies in schools show that children place less value on reading, move
more, listen less. […] Boys are less interested in each other’s stories. We are insatiably
curious about others” (pp. 18-19).
This is very clearly seen in Meg Cabot’s series of books, Allie Finkle’s rules for girls (2008-2016). Boys are often worse students than girls and are often disruptive in
class; they behave less respectfully and pay little attention. In the same vein, in
P.S. Be eleven by , when it comes to working in groups of boys and girls at school, it is always the
girls who are the most responsible and hardest working.
A room for them
The female characters in these narratives appear in connection not only with books,
but also with physical spaces where they can be accessed. For example, in Birthday shopping (), we see Ling in a bookshop choosing a book for her sister.
This presence of female figures in places related to reading can also be seen in Rosetown (). The cover of the book itself shows the main character of the story in the window
of a bookshop. In addition, much of the action in this book takes place in various
“sacred places” of reading: bookshops, libraries, book clubs, etcetera.
The intimate space in which to read is something that, according to Virginia Woolf
(1929/2014), has essential consequences for the development of a woman. The British
writer argues that material conditions greatly affect creative abilities and intellectual
freedom, and thus “a woman must have money and a room of her own” (p. 7). In this
symbolic and material room, women should not suffer interruptions, the same interruptions
that they do suffer, on a regular basis, in the common spaces of the home.
This attitude is reflected in several of the books discussed here. In one of the stories
in , Gollie decides to lock herself away to read and warns Bink, her best friend, that
she will not be available until she finishes reading. To do this, she leaves notes
on her door that read as follows: “To whom it may concern: Further interrumptions
will NOT be tolerated. […] Bink, I implore you, do NOT knock” ().
In the first book of the series Allie Finkle’s rules for girls (), it is already specified that Allie has her own room, where she can have privacy
and her own time. In the fourth book of the saga, Allie explains her favourite place
to read in her room: “I was reading in my favourite reading spot after dinner -on
my window seat” (). And yet, different members of the family continue to come up to her room and interrupt
her, to which she issues an explicit and open protest: “What´s eating me is that I
would like to have some privacy once in a while” (2009, p. 24).
The need for this space of intimacy and solitary time for reading can be seen in the
illustrations of many of the books under study (picture 3), such as Home is a window (), Outside (), Bedtime for mommy or Layla’s Happiness ().
Picture 3Home is a window. Illustrations by Chris Sasaki
This need for an intimate perimeter is taken to the extreme through the metaphor of
the impregnable fortress of reading, as we can see in this quotation from the book
You Are a Reader: “There is cozy reading on your bed. Or inside a fort instead” () or in the illustration of Layla’s Happiness () (picture 4).
Picture 4Layla’s Happiness. Illustrations by Ashleigh Corrin
Reading to understand reality
We have previously dealt with the intimate relationship that girls establish with
reading and also of the importance of the space in which this relationship is established,
but the intimacy of this space and this connection does not imply that the female
characters feel a disconnection with the outside world. In fact, reading is often
a mediator that helps these characters navigate reality.
Perhaps the most illuminating example is the case of the main character of the book
series Allie Finkle’s rules for girls (Cabot, -). Allie needs to write down a set of rules in order to organise her world, manage
her emotions, structure her ethical principles and understand others. In other words,
writing and further reading are essential as mediators between their private world
and the outside world. In this sense, it is important to clarify that an almost inevitable
link is established between reading and writing, which will also be a constant in
the works we study: “Readers are writers and writers are readers” ().
In The Only Black Girls in Town (), two friends solve a mystery by reading some diaries they find. This way they gain
a better understanding of the diary’s author’s life, but also of their own lives,
improving their knowledge of reality and their relationship with each other, and at
the same time gaining ethnic self-awareness. In the books Words with Wings () and List of things that will not change () both main characters will be able to better process the fact that their parents
are separating and their own feelings through reading and writing.
Another example of reading as a link between the individual and reality is the book
Poetree by . Through a series of poems, Sylvia, the main character, manages to observe and understand
the nature that surrounds her and to improve her relationship with the outside world.
Moreover, thanks to the exchange of poems, she manages to make her first friend and
break out of her state of isolation.
In , the main character finds a box full of poems in the attic of her grandmother’s house.
Those poems were written by her mother during her adolescence and youth. By reading
these poems, the main character begins to better understand her family’s story and
her mother’s feelings. She then decides to do the same and leave her own box of poems,
as a kind of relay, for someone to find them in the future. It is a tender story of
intergenerational relationships and understanding between the women of a family, in
which writing acts as a witness.
Reading appears frequently in these books as a mediator in the relationship between
women, whether they are friends or members of the same family. In Dear Substitute (), the main character displays an attitude of outright rejection of the change in
routines imposed by the arrival of Miss Pelly, the substitute for her regular teacher.
It is only through reading and poetry that the new teacher will be able to approach
the child and be accepted by the whole class.
In , the main character is a very small girl, but throughout the story she claims that
this does not mean she cannot do great things. “I may be small, but I’m not Little”.
One of the ways in which she tries to claim her place in the world is through reading
and knowledge: “At the library, they ask if I am sure I want to check out such hard
books” (picture 5).
Picture 5Not Little. Illustrations by Maya Myers
Reading as action
One could argue that this relationship of women and girls to reading is something
that perpetuates gender roles and confines women and girls to the small, private and
usually domestic sphere of fiction literature: “s for LIJ consumption, this tradition
has presented it as “girls’ stuff”, with all the limitations and undervaluation inherent
thereto” ().
But the truth is that, through the consumption of fairy tales, some of the girls in
these stories are able to see another reality beyond the empirical and immediate reality
itself. For example, in Uni the unicorn (), the main character - a unicorn - manages to understand, through books, that little
girls exist and are real. This role reversal is particularly interesting, especially
in terms of questioning their own reality (picture 6).
Picture 6Uni the Unicorn. Illustrations by Brigette Barrager
In addition to presenting fiction as useful and connected to reality, these female
characters read all kinds of books: novels, poetry, atlases, ethnography, history,
biology textbooks, books about animals, scientific texts, books about architecture,
school books, and so on. All of them help them to investigate, solve problems, learn
and relate better to the reality around them.
In the introduction, quoting , we explained how women conquer their space through reading. But the female characters
in the books under study go further, and make a qualitative leap from reflection to
action, from interiority to the external material world, and finally from self-knowledge
to intervention that has a palpable impact on their life contexts. The girls in these
stories go beyond the thesis of Enlightenment origin according to which the intellectual
subject achieves, in the field of ideas and knowledge, freedom of choice, independence,
a vision of the world and, in short, a safe distance in which to become and structure
themselves as emancipated subjects. The main characters go even beyond, as all the
achievements they make in the world of reading are put into practical reality to solve
situations and difficulties in their lives. These are not only ethical subjects who
develop a strong interiority or a complex perception of themselves, but also practical
individuals, who open up to the world, and put into practice what they have assimilated
in the solitude of their room, i.e., individuals who try to intervene and change a
certain state of affairs.
A perfect exemplification of this is , about the story of an imaginary world of dolls that come to life when no one sees
them. Annabelle, the main character, manages to solve the mystery of her aunt’s disappearance.
To that end, Annabelle’s first step is to read: “Annabelle knew exactly what she was
going to do. She wanted to examine the books in the library” (p.11).
She also ties in with the character of her aunt Sarah who, before disappearing, left
a diary in which she narrated all her discoveries. So, by researching her aunt’s diary,
Annabelle learns that she has a keen scientific interest in nature. Both Annabelle’s
character and that of her aunt Sarah are in constant discovery of reality. Let’s read
some of the latter's diary entries: “Time has come for another adventure […] I need
to develop a greater understanding of the creatures of this house” (pp. 33 y 41).
In fact, this impulse to go out into the world and understand it better from previously
acquired knowledge is inherited by her niece, who decides to leave the safety of her
doll’s house to search for her aunt after hours of reading and research.
This tendency to proactively try to solve problems from and after reading can also
be found in the contemporary reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty (). The main character, Aurora, reads books to investigate how to cure the sleep spell
to which she is condemned. Not only does she read to find a solution to her problem,
but she also writes and publishes the results of her research in order to be of help
to others in the same situation:
As Aurora grew, she realized her sleeping troubles weren´t going to go away, and began
to desire more information about them. […] in her quest to learn about her difference
by bringing in books […] Aurora started publishing her own papers on her experience
with a sleep disorder (p. 80).
Perhaps the most remarkable example of reading as an actor of change in the world
is , which deals with reflection on the enormous power of reading, how words connect
us to the world and how, through education, we can learn to navigate reality. Beatryce
lives in a world where girls are not literate, but she can read and write and teaches
other characters to do so. In fact, through the process of learning to read and write,
the lives of all the characters begin to improve. We refer, of course, to a type of
education that does not perpetuate or legitimise inequalities, but goes beyond that
by “allowing knowledge to be generated horizontally and lead us towards a society
of shared knowledge” ().
Throughout the book, however, Beatryce generates enormous distrust, especially among
the male characters, who would like to silence her. In this respect, the words of
are extremely revealing:
For centuries there have been many men who have been suspicious of women who read,
perhaps because reading could undermine one of the qualities they [...] value most:
submission. [...] There is no doubt that access to reading, which is the main gateway
to the world of culture, was a great step forward for women [...]. It gave her more
self-confidence, made her more independent, helped her to think for herself, opened
up new horizons (pp.11-19).
Reading to change the future: education
In the books studied in this paper, the relationship with reading and education is
so important that it even changes the future of the girls and women involved. The
most significant case is undoubtedly , the story of seven generations of an African-American family, starting with the
great-great-grandmothers, who were slaves working in the cotton fields of the southern
United States. As time passes, we come to the narrator’s grandmother, Georgiana, who
learned to read and write and became a schoolteacher. Their descendants will become
poets, painters and writers. But it is undoubtedly Georgiana, the first woman in the
family to learn to read and write, who initiates the real change in the family's destiny:
“People say about Georgiana: She always had a book in her hand”. In this case, reading
learned and shared among women is not only gendered but also ethnically emancipatory.
In the narratives we analysed, even the princesses, contrary to the stereotype of
folklore, become trained and educated women. In the contemporary version of Rapunzel
(), we can see that, from a very young age, her parents understand the importance of
study: “When Rapunzel came of age, the family sent their daughter next door to study
under the guidance of the sorceress Gothel” (p. 19). On the other hand, Princess Magnolia
in The Princess in Black series () is a great fan of science and knowledge in general. In many of these books, the
importance of princesses going to school is emphasised because, in addition to diplomacy
and discipline, they also have to familiarise themselves with academic subjects, as
is the case with the protagonist of Royal Wedding Diaster: “we´re setting a bad example for the rest of the populace by keeping Olivia out
of school -unless we´re homeschooling her […] certainly we can teach you deportment
and diplomacy. But I meant things like math, literature and science” ().
In the illustrations of many of the selected books, we see the importance of the study
and training of princesses, as in Princess Cora and the Crocodile (), Notebooks of a middle school princess: Royal wedding disaster o Princess hair () (picture 7).
Picture 7Princess hair. Illustrations by Sharee Miller
Meg Cabot is an author who often highlights the idea of study as a weapon to transform
reality and the future of girls. In fact, the main character of her series, Allie Finkle’s rules for girls, is a very good student and gets excellent grades. Reference must also be made to
the Rita Williams-García trilogy. In the first of her books, , we meet Cecile, the mother of the three sisters, who, in the late 1960s, left her
own home to fight for the rights of the black community, cultivating and disseminating
her passion for poetry. Delphine, Cecile’s eldest daughter, is a child with a great
curiosity for knowledge and, especially, for language. She is a passionate reader
of Merriam Webster’s dictionary. In fact, she imagines that the author is a woman
called Merriam Webster, until one day, to her great disappointment, her professor
explains that they are the surnames of two men: “I´d had a picture of Miss Merriam
Webster in my head for so long. I heard her showing me where to look for words. How
to pronounce them. What they meant. How to spell them” ().
In , the main character is an inveterate reader who also has an enormous talent for storytelling.
Thanks to this, she manages to attract the attention of the sultan and becomes a partner
in a joint business: “Zade perused all the books and collected in her memory many
tales of history, poetry, philosophy, sciences, and the arts. This made Zade wise,
witty, inventive, well read, and a great candidate for a job” (p. 60).
We will end this section with . Dory, the main character, is greatly affected by her difficulties in learning to
read and write. Not only is she frustrated because she is forced to read baby books
that she finds uninspiring, but she is also sidelined when her best friend sits down
to read with another girl, creating a bond between them that Dory cannot participate
in. Finally, she decides that she too is going to learn to read, and even goes as
far as to talk about reading as a Superpower (image 8).
Picture 8Dory Fantasmagory: Dory Dory Black Sheep. Illustrations by Abby Hanlon
Conclusions
Through the review of 35 works of contemporary American LIJ, the aim was to show how
reading in these books is related to self-knowledge, self-affirmation, sisterhood,
independence, contact with reality, change, struggle, solidarity, equality, personal
and collective effort, and understanding with the other.
Following the line of liberal feminism (), and as the books analysed show, we are convinced that reading and education are
facilitating and essential factors for women's access to the public sphere. Moreover,
they are factors that contribute to women’s empowerment and the possibility of intervention
in the socio-collective reality and, therefore, to its transformation. As Virginia
Woolf famously concluded her lecture series in A room of one’s own (1929/2014):
If you would please me—and there are thousands like me—you would write books […] Thus
when I ask you to write more books, I am urging you to do what will be for your good
and for the good of the world at large (pp.59-60).
The example of the books we have analysed in this paper is enormously significant
and hopeful so that the treatment of gender identity through LIJ can “motivate reflection
and, ultimately, serve as a starting point for the elimination of certain stereotypes
and prejudices present among students” ().
We would like to end this paper with the words of Kate DiCamillo in an interview about
her book, , which perfectly summarise the analytical spirit that has guided this paper, describing
reading and writing as protective barriers that prevent women from being silenced:
I was one of those kids who was desperate to learn how to read. I felt like I really
needed it […] it’s that sense of empowerment, then I felt like I could do anything
because I could read […] I couldn’t be silenced because I could read and write ().
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