While the gender and age of the girl may seem to remove her from any significant contribution to empire, this book provides both a new perspective on familiar girls' literature, and the first detailed examination of lesser-known fiction relating the emergence of fictional girl adventurers, castaways and 'ripping' schoolgirls to the British Empire.

MICHELLE J. SMITH is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research on British girls' literature, culture and empire has been published in a range of journals and edited collections. She is currently working on colonial Australian girls' print culture and maintains a blog at http://www.girlsliterature.com.au

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Imperial Girls in British Literature and Culture Shaping the 'Useful' Girl: The Girl's Own Paper , 1880-1907 Developing Pedagogy and Hybridised Femininity in the Girls' School Story Adventurous Girls of the British Empire: The Novels of Bessie Marchant Fantastic and Domestic Girls and the Idolisation of 'Improving' Others Be(ing) Prepared: Girl Guides, Colonial Life, and National Strength Microcosms of Girlhood: Reworking the Robinsonade for Girls Conclusion Bibliography Index