Girls: History of Growing Up Female in America

Traces the history of growing up female in America as told by the girls themselves in journals, household manuals, letters, slave narratives, and other primary sources. By the author of Rosie the Riveter. Reprint.

Born in Denver, Colorado, Penny Colman also lived in Oregon, Washington and Kentucky before her parents settled in North Warren, a small town in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. Her father was a psychiatrist with a position at the state hospital. She lived on the grounds of the mental hospital along with her father, her mother, an artist, and three brothers. When Penny was eleven years old, a writer and photographer came to do an article titled, "The Strangest Place to Find a Happy Family” that was published in Redbook Magazine.

After two years of college, Penny decided to hitchhike through Europe. When she returned home, she finished college, went to graduate school, got married, and had three children (two were twins) all within four years. For the next seventeen years, Penny Colman threw herself into being an active mom, minister's wife, volunteer, on-and-off writer, teacher, consultant, project manager, and art gallery owner. Finally, she decided to be a full-time writer in 1987, embarking on a challenging and exciting career. She writes for readers of all ages on a wide variety of topics.