In the introduction to Saving the World, Allison Giffen and Robin L. Cadwallader observe that childhood studies has often shied away from engaging with religion, and this volume aims to remedy this tendency by foregrounding religion, and evangelicalism in particular, as a meaningful category for inquiry. The introduction details how the nineteenth century marked a transformative time for literary, girlhood, and evangelical cultures, and the subsequent eleven chapters trace the intersections of these spheres and situate them within broader economic, political, and social changes. The chapters analyze an array of sources, from evangelical periodicals—including the Children's Missionary Friend and The Children's Record—to well-known books—like Uncle Tom's Cabin and Anne of Green Gables—to less widely-read novels—such as the Little Mabel stories. Through their attention to girlhood and evangelicalism, the authors provide fresh insights and stimulating alternative readings of these works, demonstrating that the meanings and morals of such texts were more complex and multi-layered than they might appear at first glance. The impermanence and liminality of girlhood means that these periodicals and novels often cast girls as central figures in various reform agendas and frequently as “saviors” as the title indicates. At the same time, girls continued to be marginalized in society, and various chapters draw attention to the ways ableist, racist, classist, and heteronormative structures shaped the experiences of girl readers and writers and portrayals of girl characters. As highlighted in these chapters, this marginalization, combined with the liminality of girlhood, could be restrictive, but it also provided opportunities for girls to transcend and even subvert prescribed scripts and to use religious arenas in dynamic and unexpected ways.

Giffen and Cadwallader conclude their introduction with the hope that this volume will spark new interest in girlhood and evangelicalism, an ambition they achieve. Having demonstrated the value of employing evangelicalism and girlhood as analytical lenses in examining nineteenth-century Anglo-American literature and culture, this volume opens fertile ground for future research and raises exciting questions, including how evangelicalism and girlhood relate and operate in other geographic and temporal contexts. As evidenced by this volume, researching such questions and exploring the intersections of girlhood and evangelicalism enriches the fields of not only religious, childhood, and literary studies but also disability, race, gender, and queer studies.