The Hired Girl
by Laura Amy Schlitz
In 1911, fourteen-year-old Joan flees her harsh farm life for Baltimore, where she takes a job as a housemaid for a Jewish family. Told through her diary, her story blends hunger for books and independence with humor, missteps, and a tender coming-of-age. Read the full description
Best for: Readers 12 and up who enjoy historical fiction and coming-of-age stories
The Hired Girl is #94 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 49 out of 100.
The Hired Girl: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, The Hired Girl’s reading interest has run from #49 to #100 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
The Hired Girl was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 412 times in the past 12 months, peaking in September 2025 with 71 (107% above its monthly average of 34). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were up 109% on the three months before. 82% of the adds were “want to read”, 7% “currently reading” and 10% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
What the data says about The Hired Girl
- Moderate swings. Monthly shelf adds averaged 34 with some ups and downs.
- Busiest and quietest months. September 2025 was its busiest month (71 adds), about 8.9 times its quietest, May 2026 (8).
- Against its genre. It had 34% fewer shelf adds than the average Young adult book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.4% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #81 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 2015 (11 years ago), it is older than 28% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
The Hired Girl on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #94 | 49 |
Is The Hired Girl rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, The Hired Girl ranks #154 this week, #149 this month, and #155 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why The Hired Girl made the Top 100
The Hired Girl made the list mainly on reader love (+17.3 points) and momentum (+16 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.2). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for The Hired Girl
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have The Hired Girl open right now than 7% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Young adult books
It is #12 of the 13 Young adult books on this month’s list.
About The Hired Girl
In 1911, fourteen-year-old Joan flees her harsh farm life for Baltimore, where she takes a job as a housemaid for a Jewish family. Told through her diary, her story blends hunger for books and independence with humor, missteps, and a tender coming-of-age.
Why it’s here: A funny, tender diary novel with a vivid 1911 Baltimore setting, by a Newbery Medal-winning author.
Best for: Readers 12 and up who enjoy historical fiction and coming-of-age stories
At a glance
- First published
- 2015
- Genre
- Young adult
- Length
- about 400 pages (the median across its editions)
- Editions
- 11 on Open Library
- Setting
- Lancaster, America, Pennsylvania
- Characters listed
- Joan Skraggs, Joan of Arc, Miss Chandler, Father, Matthew
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Coming of age in 1911
- Class and religion
- Independence
What reading it is like
Diary-style historical fiction.
At about 400 pages it is a longer read: roughly 8 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Set in Baltimore in 1911.
The premise
A teenage girl from a hard farm life in the early 1900s leaves home to find work as a housemaid in a city household. Told in diary form, her story follows her hopes, mistakes, and growing sense of what she wants from life.
What you’ll get
- A lively, bookish narrator
- A rich historical setting
- Humor alongside heartfelt coming-of-age moments
You might skip it if you prefer contemporary settings or fast-paced plots over a character-driven historical story.
Pairs well with: Little Women · Pride and Prejudice
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #93 and #95
Questions about The Hired Girl
What rank is The Hired Girl on the Top 100 books?
The Hired Girl is #94 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 49 out of 100.
Is The Hired Girl rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, The Hired Girl ranks #154 this week, #149 this month, and #155 over the past year.
Why is The Hired Girl on the Top 100?
The Hired Girl made the list mainly on reader love (+17.3 points) and momentum (+16 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.2).
How many people are reading The Hired Girl right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 118 readers currently reading The Hired Girl, 1,113 who want to read it and 155 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has The Hired Girl had over the past year?
412 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak September 2025, 71); latest three months up 109% on the prior three. Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is The Hired Girl best for?
Readers 12 and up who enjoy historical fiction and coming-of-age stories.
Ask a question about The Hired Girl
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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