The Radical Elelment: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes and Other Dauntless Girls

The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes, and Other Dauntless Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood is a sequel to the collection A Tyranny of Petticoats. Both volumes feature some great female YA authors writing about various times in history.

This edition looks at girls who are changing things in their communities, as opposed to those on the outside featured in Tyranny.

In Daughter of the Book by Dahlia Adler, a young woman in a southern Jewish community longs to learn. She will break any rules to be allowed to learn more about her culture and religion.

Take Me With You by Sara Farizan sees a new immigrant joining her neighbor in a punk band - after escaping from the war in Iran.

These are great stories for fans of history. They offer a different angle on what is usually written about by historians!

Spotswood, Jessica. (2018). The Radical Element. New York: Candlewick Press.

A Tyranny of Petticoats

A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers, and Other Badass Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood is a short story collection of some of the most popular YA female authors writing historical fiction.

Stories across America - from dogsleds, ships, stagecoaches, trains - from 1710 to 1968 - some great authors tell stories of young women following their own paths in the times when gender roles were more rigid.

Highlights include Andrea Cremer's tale of the supernatural creatures competing to decide which side of the American Civil War they will help, the North or the South. Caroline Tung Richardson tells the tale of a spy for the South hidden among Washington, D.C. society.

Beth Revis's tale tells of a young woman leaving Chicago to avoid an unwanted marriage - and becoming a teacher to the child who would become known as Annie Oakley.

YS Lee, already a master of historical fiction, tells the tale of two sisters who own a saloon in the Alaskan gold rush - and of the man who tries to steal it.

Elizabeth Wein continues her theme of historical fiction and pilots to follows a girl who idolizes Miss Bessie Coleman, the first black woman in America to earn a pilot's license.

Kekla Magoon and Robin Talley finish out this great collection with stories of the Civil Right Movement. Magoon with a Black Panthers story set in California. Talley's set in Chicago.

A Tyranny of Petticoats is a great collection of short stories about American women, and a great addition to any book collection.

Full list of authors:
J. Anderson Coats
Andrea Cremer
Y.S. Lee
Katherine Longshore
Marie Lu
Kekla Magoon
Marissa Meyer
Saundra Mitchell
Beth Revis
Caroline Tung Richmond
Lindsay Smith
Jessica Spotswood
Robin Talley
Leslye Walton
Elizabeth Wein

Spotswood, Jessica. Ed. (2016). A Tyranny of Petticoats. New York: Candlewick Press.