This is the first detailed examination of lesser-known fiction relating the emergence of fictional girl adventurers, castaways and 'ripping' schoolgirls to the British Empire. It provides both a new perspective on familiar girls' literature, such as the Girl's Own Paper and the novels of E. Nesbit and Frances Hodgson Burnett, and the first detailed examination of lesser known fiction, such as girls' robinsonades, the novels of Bessie Marchant and Angela Brazil, and the first Girl Guide Handbook.