Girls' Series Fiction and American Popular Culture

Contributions by Marlowe Daly-Galeano, Eva Lupold, Christiane E. Farnan, Paige Gray, Michael G. Cornelius, Carolyn Cocca, Nichole Bogarosh, Linda Simon, Megan E. Friddle, Mariko Turk, Mary Bronstein, Lisa Laurier, Lori Johnson, Janine J. Darragh, Grace Halden Edited by LuElla D'Amico

Publication date:

01 March 2016

Length of book:

318 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

239x158mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781498517621

Girls' Series Fiction and American Popular Culture examines the ways in which young female heroines in American series fiction have undergone dramatic changes in the past 150 years, changes which have both reflected and modeled standards of behavior for America’s tweens and teen girls. Though series books are often derided for lacking in imagination and literary potency, that the majority of American girls have been exposed to girls’ series in some form, whether through books, television, or other media, suggests that this genre needs to be studied further and that the development of the heroines that girls read about have created an impact that is worthy of a fresh critical lens. Thus, this collection explores how series books have influenced and shaped popular American culture and, in doing so, girls’ everyday experiences from the mid nineteenth century until now. The collection interrogates the cultural work that is performed through the series genre, contemplating the messages these books relay about subjects including race, class, gender, education, family, romance, and friendship, and it examines the trajectory of girl fiction within such contexts as material culture, geopolitics, socioeconomics, and feminism.

1. “Louisa May Alcott’s Theater of Time”
Marlowe Daly-Galeano, Lewis-Clark State University

2. “Queering the Katy Series: Disability, Emotion, and Imagination in the Novels of Susan Coolidge.”
Eva Lupold, Rutgers University-Camden

3. “Working Girl: The Value of Girl Labor in The Five Little Peppers Book Series”
Christiane E. Farnan, Siena College

4. “‘A Spectacle of Girls: L. Frank Baum, Women Reporters, and the Man Behind the Screen in Early Twentieth-Century America”
Paige Gray, University of Southern Mississippi

5. “Nancy Drew’s Shadow: Trixie Belden and a Case for Imperfection”
Michael Cornelius, Wilson College

6. The Bob-Whites of the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency: Gender, Class, and Race in the Trixie Belden series, 1948-1986”
Carolyn Cocca, State University of New York, College at Old Westbury
7. “Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden: Girl Detectives, Role Models, and Feminist Icons”
Nichole Bogarosh, Whitworth University

8. “Cherry Ames: A New Woman for the 1940s”
Linda Simon, Skidmore College

9. “From Betsy-Tacy to the Blog: Diary-Keeping, Self-narrative and Adolescent Identity in American Girls’ Books”
Megan Friddle, Emory University

10. “‘Girl-Sized Views’ of History: Political Consciousness in the American Girl Series”
Mariko Turk, University of Florida

11. “‘I Like Sports and You Like Clothes, But We Both Love Babies!: Problems of Identity, Voice, and Indoctrination in The Baby-Sitters Club Series”
Mary Bronstein, Independent Scholar

12. “Fancy Nancy: Precocious or Precious?
Lori Johnson and Lisa Laurier, Whitworth University

13. “‘Beyond Cruel’: Female Heroines and Third-Wave Feminism in The Vampire Academy”
Janine Darragh, University of Idaho

14. “Growing up in the 21st Century: Pretty Little Liars and their Pretty Little Devices”
Grace Halden, University of London

Part of the Children and Youth in Popular Culture Series, LuElla D’Amico’s collection aims to open up spaces for further academic work that both validates girls’ reading experiences and critically analyzes historical and contemporary girls’ series…. Common themes of identity, community, and femininity are woven throughout the chapters, as authors illuminate the historic evolution of American girlhood through the examination of popular girls’ series fiction…. These chapters note the possibilities and real-world implications for girls’ series fiction, enforcing the significance of both this collection and the wider field of girlhood studies…. D’Amico has provided the necessary addition to critical analyses looking at American history, popular culture, and feminism that not only celebrates the experiences of many girl readers throughout history but also critically interrogates the ways in which series fiction has both reflected and shaped American culture and American girlhood.