# Recommend kids books with strong female character, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892 "2003-01-06T06:23:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/41 "2003-01-06T23:14:09Z")
_The Golden Compass_ by Phillip Pullman ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/42 "2003-01-06T23:16:40Z")
I’d reccomend the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander (_The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The High King_, not so much _The Castle of Llyr_ and _Taran Wanderer_, though). Eilonwy’s not the main character, but she’s definitely got a mind of her own. Pretty much anything L. M. Montgomery has ever written. Almost every single one of her stories/books revolves around an Anne or Emily-like character. ---
**Author:** ![Chava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Chava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chava)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/43 "2003-01-06T23:36:01Z")
My all-time favorite book ever, _Indian Captive, the Story of Mary Jemison_ by Lois Lenski. _Calico Captive_ by Elizabeth George Speare is a similar story (pre-Revolution girl captured by Indians) but not as good. (advanced grade school and up) _Caddie Woodlawn_, already mentioned has a “sequel”, _Magical Melons_, by Carol Ryrie Brink. (advanced grade school and up) _Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister_ by Gregory Maguire. This is a different take on Cinderella. (middle school and up) _Bread and Jam for Frances_, _Bedtime for Frances_, and _A Bargain for Frances_ (and other Frances books) by Russell Hoban. Frances is actually a badger, but clearly female. This is definitely at the age-3 end of the spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/44 "2003-01-07T01:20:32Z")
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Patricia Wrede’s series. It begins with Dealing With Dragons and there are 3 others, but I cannot remember the titles at the moment. They all have strong female characters, but I believe only the first has a female main character. They were possibly my favorite books ever for quite a long time. I need to re-read them! Dealing with Dragons is about a princess who runs away and goes purposely to live with a dragon. They continue with her finding a husband, defeating various enemies, and end with a book about her son. They are all excellent - funny and well written without being condescending. She also wrote Maerelon the Magician, and The Magician’s Ward, about a street rat adopted by a performing magician who turns out to be a real magician. It is set in a pseudo-Victorian/Regency England. Another book about dragons was Susan Fletcher’s Dragon’s Milk and series. A young girl has to rescue baby dragons, basically. It’s not as ickily sentimental as you might think. Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite YA author. Some of her books feature strong female protaganists, for example: Howl’s Moving Castle - The eldest daughter in a family of 3 knows it is her duty to be the wicked step-sister, not to go on adventures. But when she is turned into an old woman by a Wicked Sorceress she loses her inhibitions and goes to work for the Evil Wizard. Very good stuff. Contains one of my favorite poems as a plot point: Song by John Donne. It’s apparently going to be made into a movie, created by Studio Ghibli (!) i.e. the anime studio that created Spirited Away. Dogsbody - The stars are people, and when Sirius is set up he is punished for a crime he didn’t commit by being sent to earth as a dog. He is adopted by a kindly Irish (female) orphan and must survive in dog form and absolve himself of the crime. I have a signed copy! Hurrah! The Dalemark Chronicles - A series of 4. I say series, but that’s not really the right word. It’s difficult to explain. At any rate, 2 of them have female protaganists. Spellcoats is set in prehistoric Dalemark and is a prequel of sorts. In this land, magic can be done by weaving an ancient language into fabric. Tanaqui (my namesake) is a master weaver. The other, The Crown of Dalemark, is set in modern day Dalemark - until the protaganist is sent back into Dalemark of what would probably correspond to the 1700-1800’s of our time. The plot is impossible to explain, really. Witch Week - About a school that is the perfect opposite of Hogwarts. An alternative world where witches are real and still burned and “at-risk” students are sent to schools like these. I’m getting tired and DWJ has incredibly complicated plots so I’ll just list a few others with female main characters: Hexwood, A Tale of Time City, Year of the Griffin, Fire and Hemlock, Aunt Maria… Sherwood Smith wrote a series of fantasy books about a girl called Wren as well as another duo of books called, I believe, Crowd Duel and Court Duel, also featuring a female protaganist. Someone mentioned Lloyd Alexander but I don’t think s/he mentioned the Vesper Holly books. These are not so much fantasy as adventure. They feature, essentially, a young, female, Indiana Jones, told from the POV of her retired adventurer and now respectable adopted uncle. They are set in the early 1900’s. Also, I prefer the Westmark series to the Prydain books myself. The gals have a bigger part there than in the Prydain books, I think. They are somewhat more mature books however, with no magic and so on. The Kestrel in particular is a sobering book, about war. Garth Nix’s Sabriel and an earlier book whose name escapes me are also very good. They are fantasy, set in a world where the dead hang around to come to life with the help of necromancers on a daily basis. I resisted reading them for a while because his earlier book, Shade’s Children, scarred me for life, but I’m glad I finally got around to it. The Perilous Gard is a wonderful book. The author (Elizabeth Marie Pope) also wrote one other book, The Sherwood Ring, which is good, though not as good as PG. It also features a female main character. With non-fantasy books, I really can’t tell you. I despised most of the “let’s be as depressing as we can because hell, real life is depressing and kids need to figure that out as soon as possible” books about death, terminal illnesses, suicide, divorce, and other unpleasant things that seemed to be all the vogue in the 80’s and 90’s. There are enough depressing things in RL for me to deal with without reading about it, thanks. They were apparently all considered great literature, though, because I never read a single fantasy book in school. I was inevitably forced into reading the “my parents got divorced and then my mom died and my dad ran away with the lady from the circus and I found out I had leukemia” type things. [/rant] ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/45 "2003-01-07T01:49:01Z")
I’ll recommend _[The Keeper of the Isis Light](http://www.ecn.ab.ca/mhughes/book_07.htm)_, and its sequels, _[The Guardian of Isis](http://www.ecn.ab.ca/mhughes/book_08.htm)_ and _[The Isis Pedlar](http://www.ecn.ab.ca/mhughes/book_09.htm)_, all by Monica Huges. Good sci-fi for young 'uns! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/46 "2003-01-07T01:53:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaxTheVool \* > \*\*_The Golden Compass_ by Phillip Pullman \*\* More specifically, the whole _Northern Lights_ trilogy – a very strong and resourceful young female main character without taking anything away from the various male characters. But be warned: Pullman’s books may offend some religious sensibilities (not that it bothered me, but I know it bothers some people). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/47 "2003-01-07T02:11:26Z")
Let me add my strong endorsement for _A Wrinkle in Time_, which is one of the best fantasy novels of all time, never mind “children’s book” or “strong female character” or any other qualifier. And Madeleine L’Engle has easily 20 other books out in two interrelated series covering two generations of two families, of which Meg Murry (_Wrinkle_’s protagonist) is a member of one. I asked **Skulldigger** for additional suggestions from her own childhood – she noted the Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and Sue Barton series, and the Beezus and Ramona series (for marginally younger readers than the others, as Nancy Drew is for marginally older). Amanda is not available for comment, but I know she thinks very highly of the Judy Blume novels, and claims that the Ashley and Mary Kate stories are much better reading than one might expect of a marketing-gimmick kids’ book series. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/48 "2003-01-07T02:11:31Z")
Also: _Enchantress from the Stars_, and the assoaciated _The Far Side of Evil_, by [Sylvia Engdahl](http://www.sylviaengdahl.com/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/49 "2003-01-07T02:30:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cessandra \* > \*\*Jacob Have I Loved is about a young teenaged girl growing up in Maine. She’s a tomboy who loves being on her father’s crabboat, but feels that everyone prefers her feminine twin sister. > \*\* Slight hi-jack: This was made into an episode of PBS’ _Wonderworks_ and starred a relatively unknown Bridget Fonda. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/50 "2003-01-07T02:33:16Z")
I’m midteen, although I happen to read at an adult level, so it’s a bit difficult for me to judge what books would be good for other teens. Historical fictions happen to be my favorite, and your kids might be interested in reading some of the following: A few years ago, I was reading: _The Royal Diary_ series by Scholastic books _The Dear America_ series by Scholastic books Adult level books I love: _Pillars of the Earth_ (sorry, I can’t remember the author) _The Memoirs of Cleopatra_ by Margaret George _Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles_ by Margaret George (incidently, she’s one of my favorite authors.) The last two have a little bit of sex in them, but the emphasis of the book is not placed on that, and I’m mature enough that it doesn’t bother me or send me into giggle fits. Also, you pick up some interesting facts while reading an enthralling book, which is wonderful for someone like me who has a passion for learning about people in history. All of the above books have prevented me from getting the sleep I should because I simply could not put them down on occasion. I just got so caught up in the plot. (Just one more chapter. Alright, one more. Just another one. What harm can one more do?) I brought _The Memoirs of Cleopatra_ with me when I went to Greece, and almost didn’t want to leave the hotel room, I was so caught up in the book. ~Monica ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/51 "2003-01-07T02:55:55Z")
If I had to choose one thing from this list, I’d get the Enchanted Forest series by Patricia C. Wrede. Deal with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Talking to Dragons, and one more I can’t remember. Several good female characters. Cimorene, the princess, Morwen, the witch, and Kazul, the dragon. Also, Merdith Pierce’s Dark Angel series. It’s set on the moon, and Aeriel, a slave, seeks revenge on the vampire who killed her mistress, and ends up saving him. The three books are the Dark Angel, A Gathering of Gargoyles, and the Pearl of the Soul of the World. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/52 "2003-01-07T03:16:22Z")
_The Secret Garden_ and _Little Women_. _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ might be stretching it a bit, but it could be seen as a strong female character. _From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil T. Frankweiler_. _The Westing Game_ is a phenomenal book, and everyone in the world should read it **right NOW!!** I can’t recall the name of the book (or if it’s different than the title of the movie), but the book from which the Disney film _Bedknobs and Broomsticks_ was adapted. That’s all I can think of right now. No, wait…_Island of the Blue Dolphins_ and _Jacob Have I Loved_. Both of them Newbury Award winners. A third Newbury winner, _Bridge To Terabithia_. ---
**Author:** ![Epigramcracker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Epigramcracker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epigramcracker)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/53 "2003-01-07T03:24:06Z")
**The Moorchild** by Eloise McGraw is really wonderful. About a changling–I remember really loving it in about… er, fifth… grade? I saw **Sabriel** but I don’t know if someone listed **Lirael** and the JUST-CAME-OUT **Abhorsen**. WHAT an astounding series. _eeeeeee_ My votes go for all the Phillip Pullman books too– **His Dark Materials** and **Northern Lights** trilogies. There’s always **Catherine Called Birdy** and **The Midwife’s Apprentice** by Karen Cushman. Although the latter got the Newbury, I’ve always liked the first one better. **Girl With a Pearl Earing** by Tracy Chevalier is good for older adolescents–though I’m not sure if I’d call the girl _strong_ all around. hmm… I know I know more, but my brain is dying. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/54 "2003-01-07T03:27:08Z")
\*\*Dave, the God, wrote; \*\* > [@](#): > > The Westing Game is a phenomenal book, and everyone in the world should read it right NOW!! Dave, I sense you are blocking. Tell us how you really feel. 🙂 I would like to throw out another title: \*\*Never Miss A Sunset \*\* by Jeanette Gilge. Turn of the century girl with a house full of siblings finds out Mama is going to have \*another \* baby. This means that our heroine must stay home and help mama instead of going to school. Hatred for the unborn baby and resentment of missing school and doing drudge workand feelings of terrible guilt when the baby is a stillborn. Not your typical teen angst book. It is a Christian book, ( which I didn’t know when i received it when I was 12) and I just ate the thing up and read it at least 25 times as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/55 "2003-01-07T03:29:27Z")
Hey, the link to \*\*Heartless Bitches \*\* is pretty cool. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/56 "2003-01-07T03:53:39Z")
Apologies, misread your post as for 3 year olds. Doh. Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers is a pretty wild kinda comic book series thing. Theme’s may be too mature for what you’re looking for, but several of the characters are very strong female characters. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/57 "2003-01-07T04:32:33Z")
Well, if we’re allowed to suggest comics, the Elfquest Graphic Novels are great. The hero is male, but the females are all strong and the society has gender-equality. It’s also great storytelling and the art is superior. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/58 "2003-01-07T07:35:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, if we’re allowed to suggest comics, the Elfquest Graphic Novels are great. The hero is male, but the females are all strong and the society has gender-equality. It’s also great storytelling and the art is superior. Heh, for older kids, maybe. Elfquest gets SEXY! Orgy with the snow elves, anyone? Or that strip by firefly light scene? I convinced my mom to buy me the original 4 color volumes for Christmas one year when I was in high school. I’m so glad she didn’t flip through the things. Cutter = hot hot hot! ---
**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/59 "2003-01-07T09:22:12Z")
For the teens, Mercedies Lackey might be good, if they’re into fantasy. Her books (there are far too may to list here, sorry) are very entertaining, and pretty much always have at least one strong female charichter in them. ---
**Author:** ![Medievalist2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Medievalist2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medievalist2)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892/60 "2003-01-07T09:26:57Z")
The Secret Garden and A Little Princess The Anne of Green Gables series and the Emily series by L. M. Montgomery The later books in the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. The last few books in the series deal with Betsy’s determination to go to college and become a writer. Little Women and its two sequels, Little Men and Jo’s Boys Also the other books by Louisa May Alcott (except for Jack and Jill) Patricia Beatty’s historical fiction novels Lois Lenski’s regional fiction Any of Jean Little’s books Any of Marilyn Sachs’s books The Wrinkle in Time series by Madeline L’Engle I wouldn’t recommend Meet the Austins, though. In my opinion, it’s not up to the standards of the Wrinkle in Time series. Much of Meet the Austins deals with Vicky having to learn to defer to her perfect older brother, John. There is also an obnoxious foster sister, Maggie, who spends most of her time breaking things and picking fights - not a good female role model, in my opinion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-kids-books-with-strong-female-character-please/146892.md?page=4)