Books published by publisher Feminist Press

A “very intelligent, sensitive, and compelling” novel of adolescent rebellion and sexual awakening at a girls’ boarding school (Anthony Burgess). Set in a repressive British girls’ boarding school in the late 1920s—where not only sexuality but femininity is squashed—Rosemary Manning’s “wonderful” 1962 novel is the coming-of-age story of sixteen-year-old Rachel, a sensitive, bright, and innocent student (The Guardian). Rachel finds refuge from the Spartan conditions, strict regime, fierce discipline, and formidable headmistress at Bampfield in a secret garden. She also finds friendship there, with a rebellious girl named Margaret. As Margaret has her mind expanded by a scandalous tome entitled The Well of Loneliness, she engages in a bold, forbidden act—the ultimate transgression at Bampfield—and Rachel is drawn into the turmoil. Confronted with the persecution of her friend and troubled by a growing awareness of her own sensuality, Rachel faces an impossible choice that drives her to desperate measures. Selected as one of the Top 10 Lesbian Books by the Guardian, “Rosemary Manning’s unjustly forgotten novel is a deft depiction of innocence and the forces of hypocrisy, paranoia, and self-hatred that betray innocence” (Lillian Faderman, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers).

This first-ever biography of the courageous leader of Amazonia brings young readers into the life of an inspiring woman role model.Born in the Amazon rainforest of Acre, Brazil, Marina Silva spent the days of her childhood walking through the forest collecting the sap from rubber trees to earn a meager living. For indigenous people, education was unattainable, health care nonexistent, and equality unimaginable. Even worse, the rainforest, so essential to their livelihood and culture, was being destroyed to make way for cattle ranches. Marina traveled to the city to get an education, where she learned that the rainforest did more than support the rubber tappers; it is a precious ecosystem necessary to the survival of the world. Marina soon joined the party of Chico Mendes, the legendary environmental, labor, and land reform leader, and later campaigned and was elected to Brazil's senate, where she fought for environmental protection and sustainable development.Marina's work generated worldwide recognition, including the Goldman Environmental Prize and Ms. magazine's 1998 Woman of the Year award.

The daughter of a Nantucket sea captain, Lucretia Mott exhibited, from her earliest years, an extraordinary confidence and eloquence. As an adult, she dared to speak out to all-male audiences and refused to be silenced when she was attacked by protestors or when meeting halls where her organizations were to gather were burned down. In her later years, Mott became an advisor to presidents and a colleague to such activists as Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth.

Cress Delahanty remains one of the most intrepid and beloved teenagers in all American literature. Amid the clotted oil fields and pungent orange groves of rural 1940s California, the young woman explores her family’s citrus ranch, worries about boys, attempts to negotiate the high school social ladder, and suffers embarrassments, big and small, in a tenacious search for her own identity.

This powerful memoir portrays the life-altering transformation of a feisty nomad girl who undergoes genital excision. Crippled with rheumatism as a result of the cutting, Fadumo Korn, who once freely roamed the deserts of her native Somalia, is sent to live with a wealthy uncle, brother to the Somali president. She enters a world of luxury underpinned with political instability and cruelty, but receives an invaluable education. Korn eventually moves to Germany for therapy and recounts her life there—her marriage, the birth of her son, and her involvement in the movement to end genital cutting—with warm and inspiring humor.

Now there is a series designed especially to introduce young people to women whose heroic lives have helped to shape our world. Informative, inspiring, and engaging, the series tells of extraordinary achievements women have made throughout the world and introduces younger readers to the realities of other countries and cultures. Grades 6 and up. This unique biography series is designed to introduce young readers to the achievements of women around the world. The books tell the dramatic life stories of courageous women who have overcome adversity and discrimination to make extraordinary contributions to the global community. Each book contains contextual information about the geography, politics, and culture of its subject's homeland and introduces, on an accessible level, concepts such as the global economy, environmental preservation, and human rights. By providing role models, Women Changing the World serves as a source of inspiration for future world changers. Titles in the Series include: Aung San Suu KyiStanding Up for Democracy in BurmaPB $9.95, 1-55861-197-5HC x 19.95, 1-55861-196-7Ela BhattUniting Women in IndiaPB $9.95, 1-55861-228-9HC x $19.95, 1-55861-229-7Mairead Corrigan and Betty WilliamsMaking Peace in Northern IrelandPB $9.95, 1-55861-201-7HC x $19.95, 1-55861-200-9Mamphela RampheleChallenging Apartheid in South AfricaPB $9.95, 1-55861-226-2HC x $19.95, 1-55861-227-0Rigoberta MenchuDefending Human Rights in GuatemalaPB $9.95, 1-55861-199-1HC x $19.95, 1-55861-198-3

Realities such as divorce, stepfamilies, adoption, single parenting, and gay and lesbian parenting are explored through the curious, affectionate, and nonjudgemental eyes of six-year-old Angie as she introduces readers to her multicultural groups of friends, who are loved and cared for within many different types of families.Meredith Tax's funny, engaging text reveals what families have in common while encouraging an acceptance of difference. Marilyn Hafner's appealing illustrations convey the warmth and individuality of the characters. In the end, the book's message is a simple and heart-felt one: as Angie says, "Families are who you live with and who you love."As one of the earliest books on "nontraditional" families, Families has been revered by a generation of parents, teachers, and children, and also attacked by censors. It remains a simple testament to the importance of acceptance, respect, and love.

Rigoberta Menchú was born into a remote and impoverished corner of Guatemala where her people, the Quiche-Mayan, suffered as second-class citizens and where few children, particularly girls, went to school. Working as a coffee-picker and later as a maid, she educated herself and learned Spanish, the language of her oppressors, in order to lead her people in a fight for their land and their rights. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998.

When the dragon goes to Doctor Judy and Nurse Benjamin for help, they discover all kinds of treasures zipped into her tail. Cured, the dragon takes Doctor Judy and Nurse Benjamin to meet her friends—an ostrich, a hippopotamus, a turtle, and a little creature named Lucy who has two mothers. When Lucy begins to show strange spots, Doctor Judy again steps in with her medical expertise. This new edition, with revised and expanded illustrations and story, brings the first book published by The Feminist Press back into print.The Dragon and the Doctor was the first book published by the Feminist Press.

In her sixties, George Sand delighted in spinning tales that entertained and educated her two adored granddaughters, Aurore and Gabrielle. Fortunately, she also published thirteen of them for the rest of us to enjoy. The Castle of Pictures presents four of these stories, three of which have never before been translated into English. Both girls and boys are depicted in these stories as empowered by curiosity, hard work, persistence, and honesty. They successfully protect themselves from danger by using their ingenuity and remaining faithful to their own consciences. In the title story a girl becomes an artist through the persistent nurturance of her own talent despite opposition from her father, himself a painter. "What Flowers Say" is a wickedly funny satire of class snobbery as played out among chrysanthemums, poppies, numerous varieties of roses, and other denizens of the garden. "The Bug-Eyed Fairy" investigates wonders of the insect world invisible to the normal human eye. In "The Talking Oak", an outcast orphan boy learns to rely on hard work and a strong sense of right and wrong to make his way first through the natural world, with the help of The Talking Oak who becomes his first friend, and then through the compexities of the world of grown-ups. Sand never talked down to her granddaughters. Her astonishingly deep knowledge of subjects ranging from botany and lepidopterology to art history, her subtle understanding of the human heart and the creative spirit, and her sense of wonder at the world's beauty and mystery are available here for children of all ages.