Girls Transforming

This academic study offers a fresh lens on contemporary children's fantasy literature by examining how female characters navigate identity through two specific fantastic transformations: invisibility and age-shifting. Drawing on feminist and queer theory, the analysis connects these supernatural tropes directly to the real-world experiences of girls and young women as they confront societal expectations and bodily changes. The book provides a sophisticated framework for understanding how fantasy narratives can powerfully articulate the complexities of growing up female.

What makes this work distinctive is its focused, theoretical approach to a genre often dismissed as mere escapism, revealing how invisibility and age-shifting serve as potent metaphors for gendered social pressures and the fluidity of identity. This text will resonate most with university students and scholars in children's literature, gender studies, and cultural theory, offering a compelling argument for the serious literary and social value of children's fantasy. The result is a thought-provoking contribution that reframes how we interpret the hidden meanings in the stories girls read.