Jamie Janosz

I met each of these women in the pages of books. They are fiesty and memorable individuals. They did things I wished I had been brave enough to do and said things that I wanted to say. If they were alive (and I think they might be), I'd be proud to have them as friends. 10. Nancy Drew - With her snappy little car and her lawyer father, she was brave and daring and intelligent. She solved cases and had no fear of creepy houses or terrible villains. 9. Muriel Pritchett - from Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist - A wacky scattered dog walker who talked a mile a minute, she was able to shake boring travel writer, Macon Leary, right out of his funk. 8. Laura Ingalls Wilder - Another childhood favorite, Laura was impulsive and tomboyish. She wasn't afraid to throw her enemy, that prissy Nellie Olson, on the ground and beat her up. I'd be happy to have her on my side. 7. Portia Quayne - from Elizabeth Bowen's Death of the Heart - She develops a ser

Two pieces of literature came to a crossroads in my mind last week. I finally got around to reading The Help , Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel and movie, which depicts the conflicted relationships between African American housekeepers in the South and the women for whom they worked. That same week, as a fulfillment of my daughter's Social Studies homework, I re-watched the movie The Crucible , based on Arthur Miller's famous play about the Salem witch trials. The Help is an amazing book. I loved the varied perspectives and the way it illuminated a slice of history that I know very little about. I found myself cheering for Abileen and Skeeter who were brave, wise, and wonderful women, each standing up against the repressive culture of their time. At one point in the novel, I came upon a date - 1963, and was shocked to realize that this period of American history happened during my own life time. I was born in 1965. Since I grew up in the Midwest, my experience