This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

One thing you see in libraries and bookstores these days is a LOT of good biographies about women from all walks of life for young readers.

I would have loved so many choices when I was a kid. The choices were much more limited then, but I did manage to read all the "girl" biographies in the children's room of the Provo Public Library the summer I was 10. Mom took us downtown once a week, and I'd disappear into the cool of the kids' room, where I'd load up on new books to read.

These were the historical women who made the biggest impression on me.

Joan of Arc • OK. Even when I was 10, it seemed weird to me that God, who supposedly loved all his children, would pick one country over another country to cheer for. Like, why was he all Team France anyway? Still, the story of a French country girl who spoke with angels and rallied the troops, who crowned a king and stood by her story even when the authorities burned her at the stake for it, totally captured my imagination. Also. She rode a horse.

Catherine the Great • Of course the accounts I read as a kid about Catherine the Great (who never met a male adviser she didn't like) were pretty sanitized. But I was struck by the fact that a shy girl from Prussia, who disliked her Russian fiancé because he played with toy soldiers, could grow up to rule a country she didn't even come from. She rode a horse, too. Bonus!

Molly Pitcher • I liked the story about Molly Pitcher because during the Revolutionary War she was her husband's stunt double. When he was injured and couldn't load a cannon anymore, Molly put down her pitcher, told the soldiers to get their own water and fired away. Sadly, no horses.

Louisa May Alcott • I devoured the book "Little Women" when I was 10 because I'd never met a heroine like Jo March before — which is hard to believe now because there's no shortage of feisty female protagonists in books for today's young readers. I loved Jo because she adored her family (except for Amy) and spoke her mind and wrote stories and cut off her hair to pay for Christmas presents. (Was it Christmas?) (Whatever. She cut off her hair for something, and I admired her for it.) If she'd had a horse, she would have ridden it all over New England.

Amelia Earhart • Dude! Amelia Earhart didn't need no stinking horse. She flew airplanes!

My great-grandmother • Technically speaking, I never read a book about her because there wasn't one. But I certainly heard stories about this petite redhead who kicked over the traces of her former life, worked for the railroads, landed in Wyoming, became a game warden and slept with a loaded shotgun. I like to think that when she was in a certain mood, even horses kept their distance.

As I look at this list, I realize what these women had in common: They did things that girls didn't usually do back in the day. Wear a suit of armor. Seize power. Load a cannon. Support a family as a writer. Fly airplanes. Divorce an unfaithful husband and become a game warden. These women interested me because, quite frankly, they weren't ladylike.

Here's the deal. I wasn't a tomboy, and I wasn't a girly-girl either. I was fine with being female, but why, I wondered, did boys automatically get to do all the cool stuff? Was that even a fair thing?

No. It wasn't. It isn't. But isn't it grand that girls today have at least a few more role models to hold close to their hearts?

Ann Cannon can be reached at acannon@sltrib.com or facebook.com/anncannontrib.