kidlit: recommend/remind me!

[ceelove]

It's occurred to me, in the midst of reading a shelf full of chapter books to S this past year, that there are more Strong Female Leads (tm) in kidlit than I would have guessed. Like, everybody knows it's next to impossible to find good role models for young girls, the best we can do is screen out the worst of the BarbieDisneyprincessy idiocy, right?

But with S being all about Oz and Ramona Quimby, it's made me stop and think. What enduring kidlit can you think of that features a strong girl? And what do I mean by "strong"? Well, I'd say, self-aware (or at least growing in self-awareness), curious and inventive in figuring out her world, able to balance kindness and assertiveness. And by "enduring," I'd say, still resonates with a generation other than the one it was written for.

examples:
Dorothy, Ozma, and others in the Oz books
Pippi Longstocking
Laura and others in the "Little House" series
Beezus and Ramona
"Anne of Green Gables" etc
Heidi
Mary from "A Secret Garden"
Fern in "Charlotte's Web"
Aerin in "The Hero and the Crown"

What kidlit can you name that features a strong girl? a strong boy? a strong ensemble? Which doesn't just mean, whatever kids in classic kidlit. For example, the kids in Mary Poppins don't really do things so much as experience stuff - the stories are kind of picaresque, but with the adventures coming to them instead. The kids in the Narnia books (or the Half-Magic books), on the other hand, take their fates into their own hands in their pursuit of magic.

Comments

[ceelove.livejournal.com]

Do you have a copy in English? I'm assuming it's the same Michael Ende of Neverending Story.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I don't, but the BPL does.

[ceelove.livejournal.com]

I was quite surprised to discover that Carl and Sylvana were halfway through "Neverending Story" a couple of months ago - I wouldn't have expected she would be able to take it for years, really. But they found it on my shelves and read it, and so when C requested more adventurous material, I checked out "Momo" for them and they're halfway through. I admit, I'm a bit jealous - I don't know the story myself. But she and I are already buried in another series right now...