The Hunter Maiden (Feminist Folktales from Around the World)

Introduced by award-winning author Renée Watson (Piecing Me Together), these folktales stand as a testament to the girls across histories and cultures who don’t just save their own days—they save the world, too.

An essential part of any progressive parenting bookshelf, these high-spirited adventures feature a diverse cast of female protagonists battling adversity and injustice, from battling evil wizards in Russia to outsmarting tricky demons in South Africa. Standing apart from the fairytales of mainstream media, these stories feature girls who prove themselves against cultural double standards and malicious spirits alike, broadening our understanding of what it means to be a strong girl across continents and heritages.

Feminist Folktales is a four-volume series of folklore showcasing traditional stories from around the world with courageous and heroic girls at the center of every tale. Often having existed only as oral histories, Ethel Johnston Phelps collected and anthologized these tales into two volumes, Tatterhood and The Maid of the North. This series features Phelps’s stories set against new illustrations, with introductions reflecting the enduring cultural significance of these folktales in the present day.