Girls Will Be Boys: Even More Gender Pretenders for Young Readers
Discover empowering tales of girls who defy expectations in our curated book list! From Stephanie Burgis's *Kat, Incorrigible* to Gloria Houston's *Mountain Valor*, explore juvenile fiction and nonfiction featuring bold female protagonists disguised as boys, pirates, and troubadours. Perfect for young readers who love adventure, history, and gender-bending heroines.
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Pirates!
by Celia Rees
In 1722, after arriving in Jamaica where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure.
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Kat, Incorrigible
by Stephanie Burgis
Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she's inherited her mother's magical talents, and despite Stepmama's stern objections, she's determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa's intended fiancé, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat's magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat's reckless heroism will be tested to the upmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love?
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Cat Among the Pigeons
by Julia Golding
Catherine "Cat" Royal, an orphan who lives at the Drury Lane Theater in 1790s London, rallies her friends to try to save Pedro from the clutches of Mr. Hawkins, a slavemaster who considers Pedro his property.
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The Secret Journey
by Peg Kehret
Twelve-year-old Emma Bolton is determined to join her parents on their voyage to France. She'll do anything to escape Aunt Martha and hateful Cousin Odolf. So she disguises herself as a boy and sneaks aboard a vessel she's told is her parents' ship. Too late, Emma discovers that she's a stowaway on Black Lightning, the most notorious slave ship afloat!770LAccelerated Reader® title for ages 9-12.
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Mountain Valor
by Gloria Houston
With her father and brothers gone to serve in the Civil War and her mother sick, teenage Valor ignores what is proper behavior for a girl and fights to defend her North Carolina mountain farm.
