ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates the way that girls became the locus of a range of adult concerns that centred on good citizenship and mental hygiene. It explains why persisting anxieties about children's decreasing reading habits are so often overstated, and why the ability of girls to exhibit agency and craft their own identity anyway should never be underestimated. Adults' concerns that girls were not reading enough or were not reading the 'right' books increased dramatically over the period. By focusing on girls' reading habits, the book has made a contribution to scholarship of Australia's reading, publishing and educational history. It reveals the significant continuity of girls' reading habits and reading material from 1910 to 1960. The Children's Book Councils were established after the Second World War to instil in children the importance of reading healthy Australian literature.
