“Tomboys and the Blossoming of Juvenile Fiction”

Renée M. Sentilles, associate professor of history, will present the lecture “Tomboys and the Blossoming of Juvenile Fiction.” The lecture, sponsored by the Kelvin Smith Library, will take place Thursday, March 29, at 4 p.m. in Kelvin Smith Library, Dampeer Room. This free and open-to-the-public event will be offered in conjunction with the Kelvin Smith Library Special Collections “Tomes for Tots: Youth Literature” exhibition, as well as for Women’s History month events. For more information, contact Kelvin Smith Library Special Collections at kslspecialcollections@case.edu or 216.368.2992. Visit the Facebook event page.

About the lecture

Tomboy heroines played a central role in creating the juvenile fiction market. Adventure stories written for middle-class boys had proven to be profitable, so an editor persuaded a reluctant Louisa May Alcott to write one for girls. Little Women, and the books that followed, opened up a new market that would come to shape and be shaped by adolescent American culture.

About the speaker

Sentilles is an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. The University of Massachusetts Press will soon release her book American Tomboys 1850-1915. Copies will be available for purchase at event.