Heroines+of+Traditional+and+Children's+Literature

Raymond Kelly Krickett Luckhardt Chelsea Manasian Melissa Mavron Sheila McFolley
 * Group Members:**

Texts to consider:
 * Starting Points to Consider:**
 * //Don’t Bet on the Prince// by Jack Zipes
 * “Saving the World Before Bedtime”: The Powerpuff Girls, Citizenship, and the Little Girl Superhero by Lisa Hager
 * //From the Beast to the Blonde// by Marina Warner
 * //Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form// by Marina Warner
 * //The Heronie’s Journey// by Maureen Murdock
 * //The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women// by Katrin Tchana
 * //Not One Damsel in Distress// by Jane Yolen

Below are the questions you must try to answer for contributions. You are welcome to focus on European folklore or include non-European heroines such as Li Chi and Fa Mulan, for example. Using established criteria to define a “modern heroine,” who are some of the heroines in the Harry Potter series? Are they typical modern heroines or do they more reflect traditional literature heroines? Are they more or less self-reliant, independent, clever, etc.? How have these heroines influenced contemporary children’s literature, especially children’s fantasy?
 * What heroines are found in traditional literature (folklore, including fairytales/folktales and Greek/Roman mythology)? What criteria make a heroine in traditional literature?
 * How does the female hero differ characteristically from the male hero? How is a heroine’s journey different from a hero’s?


 * What examples of modern heroines can you find in other children’s literature or children’s media (film, comics, manga, TV shows)? How do these heroines compare (or contrast) to heroines in the HP series?

Examples of modern heroines

"In //The Powerpuff Girls//, little girls take center stage as action heroes exactly because they are both little girls and superheroes, and, just as adult female action figures are challenging gender stereotypes, the Powerpuffs are revising definitions of girlhood within mainstream American popular culture. Significantly, the challenges faced by these superheroic animated girls frame current competing and often contradictory discourses abouttwentieth-century American girlhood in popular culture, revealing the transformational and yet deeply conservative character of American notions of feminine strength, sexuality, and agency."
 * Hager, Lisa. //“Saving the World Before Bedtime”: The Powerpuff Girls, Citizenship, and the Little Girl Superhero//. Vol. 33. N.p.: Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2008. 62-78. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.
 * [[image:http://www.glogster.com/media/5/16/70/67/16706710.jpg]]



//**I would like to explore the representation of African American, and other minority heroines in Children's Literature.**//