Kate Beasley, Jillian Tamaki, ill.
Farrar Straus and Giroux/Raincoast Books, Ages 8-12
ANNE, PIPPI, Ramona, Harriet, Clementine: the precocious, incorrigible, too-bright-forher-own-good young female character is an established archetype in children’s books. The magical thing about this archetype is that so many young readers relate to it, regardless of their individual personalities; extroverted kids see these girls as mirrors while quieter ones see them as a manifestation of what lives inside them.