Secret Mirandas Closet

It's really a shame that this book is out of print, because I find it to be even more relevant today than when it was first published in the 1970s. I first read this book when I was about 10 years old; I recently found a copy amongst my childhood things and reread it. To my amazement, I found that so many of the ideas I later adopted about independence of mind were influenced by the book. Miranda is an 11-year-old living in New York City in the 1970s. In her desire that Miranda not be pushed into a traditional woman's role just because she's female, Miranda's mother, Olivia, has gone a bit overboard in the other direction. The plot is driven by Miranda's discovery of an antique doll, which she keeps secret from Olivia (a sociologist and commentator on women's issues), for fear of disappointing her. Miranda knows that Olivia feels that dolls are a symbol of "centuries of girls forced into patterns of play that restricted and stifled their potential."Through Miranda's adventures with the doll, The Secret in Miranda's Closet shows how what's important is not the particular roles one adopts, but the fact that they need to be freely chosen. The book also illustrates how it's necessary to make sure that when one is part of a social or political movement, it's crucial to keep one's real goals in mind; the movement must not become an end in itself. To Greenwald, what we need to take from the women's movement is "independence of thought...the courage to follow one's bent in spite of everything." I can only agree.An added bonus of The Secret in Miranda's Closet is that it does not talk down to the audience for which it's intended; therefore, it's accessible to mature 8-year-olds as well as early teenagers. (I remember enjoying it up to about age 14, and I still enjoyed my reread of it recently.) Rereading the book was particularly poignant for me right now, because it embodies the values I want to teach my 7-month-old daughter. I can't wait until she's old enough to read it for herself.