ABSTRACT
Preadolescence—roughly defined as the age span from 9 to 11 or 12 years old—is a time of widening social awareness and increasing competence in the art of storytelling. For American girls, preadolescent storytelling becomes a forum for expressing fears related to the vulnerabilities of both childhood and adolescence: cruel parents, menacing male attackers, and threats from the realm of the supernatural. While many preadolescent girls’ stories are suffused with a blend of fear and excitement, some are playful and lighthearted in tone. The strong vein of traditionalism in girls’ stories frequently undergoes creative variation. Narratives used as examples here were collected from preadolescent girls in southern Indiana and New York State, from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.
