Amazing Girls of Arizona : True Stories of Young Pioneers

Jan Cleere has compiled a wonderful collection of such stories, for a wide range of readers from ten-year-old girls to older readers fascinated by women's history. Meet Laurette Lovell, born in 1869 with a severe leg deformity, who at age thirteen started on her path to be a renowned pottery artist and painter. Edith Bass, born in 1896, began wrangling mules before the age of nine, leading pack strings up and down the dangerous paths into the Grand Canyon. These two young women, and nine others, are profiled magnificently alongside historic photographs. Today's readers love to read bold adventures. They'll never forget these stories of real girls who conquered the West in their own style, spending most or all of their childhood in Arizona.

Jan Cleere has distinguished herself in the field of historical nonfiction by tirelessly pursuing long-forgotten manuscripts, tear-stained diaries, and old-timers with a story to tell, relentlessly looking for elusive ghosts from the past. Jan holds a writing degree in American Studies and lives in Oro Valley, Arizona.