{{Infobox book | author = Mark Twain | pub_date = 2013-04-02 | isbn = 9781592701292 | name = Advice for Good Little Girls | language = English | publisher = Enchanted Lion Books | illustrator = Vladimir Radunsky }} {{Short description|Short story by Mark Twain}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} "'''Advice for Good Little Girls'''" is a humorous [[essay]] by [[Mark Twain]], first published in 1865, which lists satirical pieces of advice for how young girls should behave. ''The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain'' called it an early precursor to Twain's satirical youth novels ''[[Tom Sawyer]]'' and ''[[Huckleberry Finn]]''.<ref name="routledge">{{cite book |editor1-last=LeMaster |editor1-first=J. R. |editor2-last=Wilson |editor2-first=James D. |title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain |date=6 December 2012 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135881351 |pages=15–16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFlQweCtoUUC |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>
==Background== "Advice for Good Little Girls" first appeared in the ''California Youth's Companion'' in 1865, as a [[companion piece]] to a similar but longer essay, "Advice for Good Little Boys." The essay was reprinted in ''The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches'' (1867),<ref name="california">{{cite book |editor1-last=Branch |editor1-first=Edgar Marquess |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Harriet E. |editor3-last=Hirst |editor3-first=Robert |title=Early Tales & Sketches, Vol. 2 |date=27 July 1981 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520906778}}</ref> and was later included in Twain's ''[[The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories]]'' (1906), under the title "Advice to Little Girls".
As a satirical retort to the [[didactic]] child-rearing literature common at the time, Twain lists subversive, facetious pieces of advice for girls, often encouraging mischievous behavior.<ref name="routledge" /> These include "You ought never to 'sass' old people unless they 'sass' you first" and "You ought never to take your little brother's '[[chewing gum|chewing-gum]]' away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone."
The essay was republished as a picture book by Enchanted Lion Press in 2013, under the title "Advice to Little Girls", with illustrations by [[Vladimir Radunsky]]. The re-release was praised by outlets including ''[[NPR]]''<ref name="npr">{{cite web |last1=Hersher |first1=Becky |title=NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2013's Great Reads |url=https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/#/book/advice-to-little-girls |website=NPR |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref> and the ''Los Angeles Times'', which called it "as essential today as it was a century-and-a-half ago."<ref name="lulin">{{cite news |last1=Lulin |first1=David L. |title=Mark Twain's 'Advice to Little Girls' |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-mar-11-la-et-jc-mark-twains-advice-to-little-girls-20130311-story.html |access-date=27 March 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=11 March 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1906._The_$30,000_Bequest,_and_Other_Stories.djvu&page=319 Advice to Little Girls] on Wikimedia Commons {{Gutenberg|no=142|name="Advice to Little Girls" included in The 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories}} * {{librivox book | title=Advice to Little Girls | author=Mark Twain}}
{{Twain|state=expanded}}
[[Category:1865 short stories]] [[Category:Short stories by Mark Twain]]