Girls, who used to be second-class citizens, are now coming into their own. Still, girls' lives, their experiences, and their roles in the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the United States have been widely overlooked. This reference encyclopedia presents more than 100 signed articles by 98 high-profile interdisciplinary scholars, covering girlhood in North America from the first settlements to the present in a multitude of historical perspectives. Picking up where collections on "girls' culture" have left off, this 2-volume encyclopedia includes 120 topics that examine the everyday lives of girls of different ages, races, classes, sexualities, religions, ethnicities, and abilities. Readers will find an array of information, research data, scholarly interpretations, and observations on subjects including body image, daughters and mothers, fairy tales, mathematics and science, Nancy Drew, Puritan girls, Riot girls, sexual harassment, sports, and teen pregnancy. Volume 1 contains alphabetical entries from A-I; Volume 2 contains entries from J-Z. (BT)