Boyish girls and girlish boys in 20th century children's literature

[SaltPorridge]

George in "The Famous Five", Enid Blyton

Peter in Malcolm Saville's books set in Shropshire

Nancy and Peggy in Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome

Petrova in "Ballet Shoes", Noel Streatfield

Please add more/ discuss/ disagree etc.

All the girls I identified most with growing up.

(So not boyish, just strong minded.(

Fotherington-Thomas (hullo clouds! Hullo sky!) in Molesworth.

If you hadn't limited it to the 20th century I'd have given you my favourites, from America in 1872:

Dorry and Joanna sat on the two ends of the ridge pole. Dorry was six years old; a pale, pudgy boy, with rather a solemn face, and smears of molasses on the sleeve of his jacket. Joanna, whom the children called "John," and "Johnnie," was a square, splendid child, a year younger than Dorry; she had big brave eyes, and a wide rosy mouth, which always looked ready to laugh. These two were great friends, though Dorry seemed like a girl who had got into boy's clothes by mistake, and Johnnie like a boy who, in a fit of fun, had borrowed his sister's frock.

Boyish girls - plenty!

Girlish boys - much rarer. Especially as positive characters. Think how Lucian is treated for behaving similarly to Ann in TFF.

Derbyshire in the Jennings books, maybe?

Liked and admired males, less pushy and/or physical than some of our heroes - Piglet, Sniff, Dick Callum, Noël Bastable, Dickon Sowerby. I'm sure there are loads more. Actually, appearance-wise, Cedric Errol with his golden ringlets, velvet suit and lace collar, but it is stressed that he is 'manly',

But in a lot of children's literature 'male' is the default human condition. I know how girls' school stories let many different sorts of girls flourish and develop their characters (Tom Gay anyone) but have read very few boys school stories and don't know whether there was an equivalent. That's partly why I've always loved the balance in Coolidge.

Excellent thread idea. Katy, from What Katy Did.

Oops, just saw Dean posted an extract from the opening of it!

Jo in Little Women

Great minds, @Catiette, great minds.

They are such brilliant books, I enjoyed them (the first two mostly) much more than Little Women.

I was going to say Katy.
She was a girl after my own heart, but iirc, she ended up getting with the programme and turning into a Good Girl.

I hope I'm wrong - it's years since I read it.

There were also some sensible, roughty-toughty girls in the Monica Dickens World's End books.

Not literature however a memory from childhood watching Charlie Brown and the character Peppermint Patty.

Katy got kinda good, but in the last two books Elsie and Johnnie stay quite sparky and active, even if in a housekeepery way, and they have to import a dull and pompous Englishwoman to marry Dorry.

Jean in The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton Porter, set immediately WWI. One of the main characters is a child who is usually called ‘little Scout’, whose sex is not revealed till near the end of the book.

And Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird was tomboyish.

You beat me to it! Perfect example!

Very interesting topic.

Does anyone else remember the Nancy Drew books?
Her friend George was very boyish and a contrast to her cousin the blonde and girly Bess.

Funny how there are a lot more boyish girls than girlish boys.

I loved all of these strong women!

It’s a really interesting question and striking that there are so many more examples of fictional girls not conforming to gender stereotypes than there are boys , at least pre about 1980. One example I can think of is Noel Bastable in E. Nesbit’s Treasure Seekers books. He is characterised as gentle and ‘delicate’ - he writes poetry. Nesbit would probably have known men like this given the circles she moved in.

And Schroeder the musical prodigy, immune to Lucy's 'charms'.

Dear Enemy by Jean Webster is about a woman who takes over an orphanage and she's a really strong character. One of the orphans is a girl who's a cheeky scamp type too. Edit - 1915

Maria Jones in The Box of Delights.

I don't like books that imply that strong confident girls are "boyish", though. Dear Enemy doesn't do that. Susan Coolidge does a bit (much as I love all her books)

Is Faith in Rainbow Valley rather like this? Rough and energetic at least?

Jane in one of the Enid Blytons - Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm perhaps? She learns to file her nails and makes her prissy cousin relax a bit if I remember correctly...

I love Dear Enemy and then feel a bit guilty about the eugenics.

Even this thread seems to imply that strong minded women (eg Katy) are boyish and people who like wrrting poetry are feminine.

Marmalade Atkins and pippi Longstocking

I don’t think the Arthur Ransome books do that too much. The girls are all pretty strong characters in their different ways.