The Hired Girl

As a former bookish girl who loved to read about other bookish girls, I hereby nominate Joan Skraggs a worthy successor to literary heroines Anne Shirley and Francie Nolan. In her newly acquired diary, Joan relates her escape from her father's farm to Baltimore, where she is taken in by the wealthy Rosenbach family as a "hired girl." As her horizons open, the "refined" writing style learned from her old schoolmarm begins to crackle and nap with Joan's natural sensitivity, fierceness, and humor—as well as all the emotional highs and lows of 14-year-old girls throughout the ages. Newbery Award winner Schlitz addresses issues of class and religion and art to provide some meaty fare for thoughtful young readers, and all of her characters are fully embraceable creations. The book ends with a rousing twist on the Cinderella story that will have you misting up before you shout, "Hooray!" (Ages 12 to 16)