The eleven contributors to The Girl's Own explore British and American Victorian representations of the adolescent girl by drawing on such contemporary sources as conduct books, housekeeping manuals, periodicals, biographies, photographs, paintings, and educational treatises. The institutions, practices, and literatures discussed reveal the ways in which the Girl expressed her independence, as well as the ways in which she was presented and controlled. As the contributors note, nineteenth-century visions of girlhood were extremely ambiguous. The adolescent girl was a fascinating and troubling figure to Victorian commentators, especially in debates surrounding female sexuality and behavior. The Girl's Own combines literary and cultural history in its discussion of both British and American texts and practices. Among the topics addressed are the nineteenth-century attempt to link morality and diet; the making of heroines in biographies for girls; Lewis Carroll's and John Millais's iconographies of girlhood in, respectively, their photographs and paintings; genre fiction for and by girls; and the effort to reincorporate teenage unwed mothers into the domestic life of Victorian America.

Nineteenth-century British periodicals for girls and women offer a wealth of material to understand how girls and women fit into their social and cultural worlds, of which music making was an important part. The Girl's Own Paper, first published in 1880, stands out because of its rich musical content. Keeping practical usefulness as a research tool and as a guide to further reading in mind, Judith Barger has catalogued the musical content found in the weekly and later monthly issues during the magazine's first thirty years, in music scores, instalments of serialized fiction about musicians, music-related nonfiction, poetry with a musical title or theme, illustrations depicting music making and replies to musical correspondents. The book's introductory chapter reveals how content in The Girl's Own Paper changed over time to reflect a shift in women's music making from a female accomplishment to an increasingly professional role within the discipline, using 'the piano girl' as a case study. A comparison with musical content found in The Boy's Own Paper over the same time span offers additional insight into musical content chosen for the girls' magazine. A user's guide precedes the chronological annotated catalogue; the indexes that follow reveal the magazine's diversity of approach to the subject of music.

A deadly plague has devastated Earth, killing all the adults. Lisa and her younger brother Todd are struggling to stay alive in a world where no one is safe. Other children along Grand Avenue need help as well. They band together to find food, shelter, and protection from dangerous gangs invading their neighborhood. When Tom Logan and his army start making threats, Lisa comes up with a plan and leads her group to a safer place. But how far is she willing to go to protect what's hers?

Growing up, Pat Brown had two dreams: to play baseball and to attend college. She was told she couldn't play baseball because she was a girl and couldn't attend college because she had no money, but in spite of the obstacles, she achieved both of these dreams, playing for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1950 and 1951 and going on to attend college. She is among the few women professional baseball players to be included into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. "As the only former AAGPBL player to have written about the League," Brown says, "I feel like I have finally pitched my no hit game." This is a memoir of playing baseball on the sandlot, discovering and playing in the AAGPBL, and playing basketball in college. Brown shares her thoughts on the League's history, including what Philip K. Wrigley sought to do by creating the AAGPBL, what happened after Wrigley left to give more attention to the Chicago Cubs, and why the League ended. She also considers the future for women's professional baseball. Interviews with such former AAGPBL players as Helen Hannah Campbell, Patricia "Pat" Courtney, Madeline "Maddy" English, Lenora "Smokey" Mandella, Jacqueline "Jackie" Matson, Jane Moffet, Mary "Sis" Moore, and Janet "Pee Wee" Wiley are included.

A colorful chronicle of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, as recalled by the very women and men who were a part of it. From Philip K. Wrigley, the chewing-gum mogul who had the idea for the league, to "Gabby" Ziegler, captain of the Grand Rapids Chicks, Girls of the Summer is about dreams and about making those dreams come true.