This article analyzes the figure of a girl in the Anglo-Saxon novel at the turn of the 20th century. The examples of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter and The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett are used to describe the evolution of the literary model of an adolescent girl. The author points out how a new, more empowering model of girlhood emerged through children’s (girls’) literature, using the imagination as a possible weapon against the conservative social model.

Keywords: adolescence, girl, gender, patriarchy, imagination, upbringing, education