My daughter and I enjoyed reading this one, especially after reading the first (see my blog post in Educators). She recommends reading "Daughter of the Book," "Lady Firebrand" (!!LOVED this one!!) and "Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave."
I wish this volume had been available when I was teaching. There are strong female characters, with two stories focused on the difficulties women encountered historically in the United States when they challenged the teachings of their faith, such as Judaism, or were persecuted, in the case of the story about the Mormons.
The stories don't have near the profanity as those in the first volume, nor the sexual overtones. Overall, I'd say this is closer to MG, although the content is often very sophisticated and would require building background knowledge (the Mormons' journey across the US, and how they were turned out of place after place, is not mentioned in any CC standards, for example). Petticoats has more YA overtones.
For free story comprehension questions on several stories in Petticoats, read my posting Strong, Diverse Heroines in Short Stories.
