To round out women’s history month and continue talking about some of the amazing titles on this year’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound list (OBCB), I thought I’d dive into the books on the list that talk about girls across borders. This is a longer roundup of titles, as there were a number of really great titles that would fall under this umbrella. Some of the borders these girls move across are physical, some are mental, and some are socially-constructed boundaries. I’ve pulled the titles from across the five categories of the OBCB list, so there’s a little literature, a little social science, and a little bit of arts and humanities covered here.

Sold by Patricia McCormick

This isn’t a new title, and it’s not one that hasn’t gone unnoticed or not earned accolades. That’s for good reason. This is a powerful novel in verse about human trafficking and prostitution.

Thirteen year old Lakshmi lives in Nepal, and when a devastating
monsoon destroys her family’s crops, her step-father informs her that her duty is to help the family recover from this tragedy. While she’s under the impression that she’s being sent to do work a a maid, the truth is, she’s being sold into prostitution in India.

It’s a harsh, cruel, and brutal world, but Lakshmi does what she can to endure. She’s able to at least try to foster friendships with the other girls in the brothel.

Sold is horrifying and heart-wrenching, and it’s not necessarily the kind of story with a happy ending to it. What’s left unsaid because of the verse style of the novel is as painful as those things which are said and described. Likewise, despite being a fictional novel, it’s clear that McCormick has done her research on the truth behind stories like Lakshmi’s, and she’s unflinching in what she presents as the truth of her experiences as a child sold into prostitution.

Though not a personal favorite read of mine, it’s one that I am still thinking about months later. It’s powerful, and it’s the kind of story any reader curious about the ongoings in other parts of the world should read. But, of course, they shouldn’t read it for just that. Because as much as we want to believe this is an issue “in other places,” it still happens in the places with which we have great familiarity.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

So what can be done about oppression and the horrific abuses women suffer around the world? Kristof and WuDunn delve into what we can do and how we can do it in their work.

I should note before diving into this a bit more than this book didn’t work for me. It’s really brutal, even more so than Sold, and I had a problem more specifically with how these women’s stories of being hurt and broken and abused were coaxed out of them in a way that I felt took the power away from the victim and instead gave it to Kristof and WuDunn. But I note that this was my personal bias in the reading and it came up because this book is PACKED with these sorts of stories — it’s not an easy read nor is it a gentle one and it’s not meant to be either of those things.

That said, this is the kind of book any reader interested in social justice, particularly on a global scale, should pick up. It gives a broad perspective of practical things that can be done to help make the world a little bit of a safer place for women who endure brutality. It puts a real face and story to the ones told by McCormick in Sold. I should be fair in stating, too, that alongside the really tough reads are stories about how many women recovered from their positions and situations. Those are, of course, meant to be a call to action.

Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China by Leslie T. Chang

When you think of China, what do you think? What about those stickers littering your clothes or on toys that proclaim “made in China?”

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Going back to fiction and back to the US momentarily, Kwok’s novel focuses on the double life which immigrants to this country can sometimes lead.

Kimberly Chang and her mother arrived in Brooklyn from Hong Kong poor but eager to get away from their home country. They’re set up in an apartment of squalor. During the day, Kimberly is an immensely talented and eager school girl. From that, it would appear she’s living the American Dream, but it’s far from that.

At night, Kimberly works in the factories and hopes to help supplement the income her mother has in order for them to stay afloat in their new home. She’s obligated to help, and in the process of this work, Kimberly comes to a number of realizations about how much responsibility falls on her to help make life in this country possible. There is a romance that emerges in the story, as well, and it’s in these scenes where readers get a real sense of the challenges faced — no matter which decision or opportunities Kimberly pursues, she’s going to have to work hard and make significant sacrifices.

What happens, too, when someone finds out about your real home life and it doesn’t match the face you present in the classroom?

Girl in Translation makes for a really interesting read against Factory Girls. While they’re set in entirely different worlds, what these girls do and don’t do reflect the realities of their worlds in ways that make them almost more similar than they make them different. 

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene

If I had to pick a single book I read over the course of OBCB work that stood out to me the most, it would be Guene’s novel. I’d put it off for quite a while because I had no idea what it was about (the title and the cover didn’t attract me) but when I picked it up, I read it in a single sitting.

What a little gem of a book. This was published adult but has mega YA appeal, as it’s about a 15-year-old Doria growing up in the projects about half an hour from Paris. While we have our romantic notions of what Paris is like, that notion is best left to what Paris is — not the suburban landscape. 

Doria’s dealing with her father ditching her and her mother, who is illiterate, as he heads back to Morocco in order to attempt marrying a woman who can sire him a son (that’s all that matters in his culture). It deals with urban issues in a way that’s cross-cultural, about the challenges of growing up between cultures, and what it means to figure out who you are and what you do when your world’s been blown apart. It looks at what happens when the people you’ve come to know and rely on for certain things — their always being there, their always NOT being there — change and mold into their own lives and new paths, too. 

Doria’s voice is amazing: it’s funny, but also deeply hurting and that hurt comes in those really funny moments, making them even more searing. Doria’s not one of those girls who is a miracle, and I think that’s what made it resonate so much. She’s NOT good at school and she doesn’t care. But it doesn’t at all make her worthless or driftless. She’s 15 and only trying to figure it out as best she can. Even when the school reassigns her to a trade she doesn’t care about, Doria’s actions and reactions are real and authentic to who she was. 

The reason this particular novel was one we talked about and thought was worthwhile for including on OBCB was not just the voice, but that it showcased a girl whose cultural identity is one we don’t often see. She’s poor, she’s part French and part Moroccan, and she lives on the outskirts of one of the most romanticized, lauded cities in the world. 

Three other female-lead and female-centric titles that fit within this idea of girls across borders include the following:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

There’s not much I need to say about why this book fits not only on the OBCB list (it’s in the literature and languages category) nor about why it fits within this post about girls across borders. Frankie’s a girl who takes charge, gets things done, and does so despite what stands in her way. While fictional and the stakes that exist in the real-life stories discussed above aren’t as high, this is the type of book that fits into the conversation, if it’s not a gateway to the larger conversation about social constructs, gender, and about girls breaking down borders.

Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America by Karen Blumenthal

Blumenthal’s non-fiction title, which skews much younger than the other titles on this list, is a carry over from the 2009 list. It’s an excellent look at how Title IX came to be and how women earned their rightful place in sports and athletic history. Here is how girls spoke up and out, despite the challenges standing before them. What keeps this book particularly interesting is how well the photos and sidebars are used and placed throughout.

Rookie Yearbook One edited by Tavi Gevinson

I nominated this title not having read it and wondering if maybe I’d nominated something that had no chance or place on our list. But I was wrong. This book, which is on the arts and humanities list, is such a fantastic guide to pop culture, to counter pop culture, to fashion, and to music. More than that — and I think why this is such a perfect fit for the OBCB list, as well as for this roundup of titles in particular — is that it explores “big issues” that teen girls face. It tackles figuring out what you want to do with your life, how to begin and end friendships, as well as sexuality, dating, and more. Tavi and her fellow writers have their fingers on the pulse of being a teen girl, and while things like makeup tips or fashion photo shoots won’t capture the interest of all girls who pick up this title, there are powerful pieces in here that will speak to them. This isn’t a book you sit and read cover to cover; it’s more a book you pick up and read when you feel like you need to talk to someone who will get you and offer you some really worthwhile advice or food for thought on life stuff. A big thumbs up, too, for this book featuring models of many colors and more than one shape.

Earlier title roundups of books on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list I’ve talked include titles tackling music and musicality, football and football culture, and religion and spirituality.