Amazing Girls of Arizona: True Stories Of Young Pioneers

by Jan Cleere

Growing up can be hard enough, but when you are a teenage girl on the western frontier every day is a lesson in survival. From being held captive by a Native American tribe (like Olive Ann Oatman), to mastering the dangerous business of wrangling cattle (like Edith Jane Bass), Amazing Girls of Arizona captures the remarkable lives of eleven real American girls (all seventeen years old or younger) who were pioneers of their time.
Meet Laurette Lovell, born in 1869 with a severe leg deformity, who at age thirteen started on her path to be a renowned pottery artist and painter. Edith Bass, born in 1896, began wrangling mules before the age of nine, leading pack strings up and down the dangerous paths into the Grand Canyon. These two young women, and nine others, are profiled alongside historic photographs. Today’s readers will enjoy these stories of real girls who conquered the frontiers of Arizona in their own style.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

Reviews

[Connie Cockrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of Amazing Girls of Arizona by Jan Cleere

A collection of true stories of young pioneers, this is a look at what life was like in the early days of Arizona. In short, it was hot, hard work, and all done by little girls. Children were given remarkable responsibility and these girls in particular rose to the challenge. I enjoyed every story and the book is written to a level that ensures children will also enjoy these descriptions of life early in Arizona’s history. I love that there’s an actual picture of each girl or woman at the start of her chapter. Let your imaginations run free!

[Nif · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this book thinking that it would be more based on documented facts or memoirs. It appears to be more historical fiction with a lot of extrapolation of events that may have been documented in a memoir perhaps.

The writing level is geared to the younger reader rather than the adult.

It was still worth the very quick read.

[Maddie Vannoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a girl from Arizona so this book was a necessity to read. However, I kinda got bored in the middle and didn’t really care about the historical figures after a while. Then again, it is very educational read and you will learn about the women who built Arizona into what it is today.

[Arthur Salyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice easy summer read for me. History lovers will like it. Arizona folks will really like it. Nice stories about strong girls/women. Very interesting stories at the end: Softball history...Arizona was a leader. Poignant story about a girl growing up in an internment camp in WW2.

[Charla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a fast read, with entertaining and enlightening stories of young women (mostly pioneers) in Arizona. A couple of the stories are a little disjointed but for the most part it was well written.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm an AZ girl and had to read this. Interesting, but I'd already heard a few of the stories and didn't enjoy the writing style.

[zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

i absolutely love history. i also live in arizona so i enjoyed reading about the past women living in the same place i do. i found it interesting about the places the women lived, their jobs, hobbies and more. definitely recommend this if you're into history.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of "true stories of young pioneers" living (and dying) in Arizona ca. 1850-1900. Quality of writing is not great but some decent short reading selections for my Southwest Literature class, at an appropriate 9th grade level. As with Kopit's play Indians, Amazing Girls does a good job of raising historical, geographical and cultural issues through somewhat interesting stories. We will look at the first vignette, "Indian Captive", this week. Potential exploratory questions include: what was life like in a Mohave hunter-gatherer camp? What prompts people to commit acts of indiscriminate and brutal violence? (desperation, lack of empathy, objectification of "the other") Who were the Mormons? (Brigham Young & James Brewster) Who were the Apache, Pima, Maricopa, Mohave, Yavapai?

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is great book for understanding early pioneer life of "young girls". Today, very little stands in the way of a young girl's dreams which is so very different from her predecessors of the same age. Necessary responsibilities at such a young age equals self-reliance for the rest of their lives. There were no discussions because many times the family life depended on each of the family members.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't feel it was well written. There's good material in there but it's hard to follow along with. And there are these unusual line drawings in the book; between that and the font being so large I'm wondering if it's actually supposed to be for children.