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Original poster

Books with strong girl characters?

65 replies

Flojo99 · 02/02/2015 21:10

I'm trying to find inspiring books for my 2yo daughter. Very few seem to have strong female lead characters - it just seems to be princesses that don't really do anything practical. My son had Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam and loved them, and as well as them being brilliant stories I liked it that he was learning about things he could be when he grew up.

My daughter isn't that interested in princesses and shows a lot more interest in her brother's books. I'm happy to read them to her, but I don't want her to think it's only boys that have strong practical jobs - and I don't want her to think girls can't be at the centre of things.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?

OP posts:
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ancientbuchanan · 31/05/2015 00:24

Princess Smartypants.

Quite soon Madeleine.

For later
The secret Garden
A little Princess
The Good Master and The Singing Tree
Mistress Masham's Repose
The Princess and the Goblins
Ballet Shoes
The Diddakoi
Matilda

Yay to Pippi, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Eloise

hatpeople · 31/05/2015 00:14

After Helen Skelton's recent comments I found a page listing their top 9 books for the feminist message, that included Matilda, Olivia, Amazing Grace, Neil Gaiman is credited in particular for 'Wolves in the Walls' and for other strong girl characters. Most are for when she's older. Please see the Hatpeople blog at www.hatpeopleofhatland.com/1/post/2015/05/best-childrens-books-for-the-feminist-message.html

Lucy61 · 29/04/2015 23:33

Here they are

www.nicksharratt.com/books/kes_gray.html

Lucy61 · 29/04/2015 23:28

Handas surprise and Handas hen. Nick Sharrat has some good ones e.g Super Daisy. In fact he's got a series of books featuring Daisy in non traditional female roles.

drinkscabinet · 29/04/2015 23:21

Oh, a good Christmas one: The Empty Stocking by Richard Curtis.

drinkscabinet · 29/04/2015 23:20

James Mayhew's 'Katie' series about paintings are fab. Katie goes to the art gallery with her granny who always falls asleep then Katie has lots of adventures in famous paintings. My DDs love it although going to art galleries now involves a lot of 'Only Katie is allowed in the paintings'.

Pirate Gran is good fun, The Bog Baby is charming (and is a story told by a mother to her daughter). Another vote for Katie Morag, the TV show is very good as well. And when she's a bit older the Ottoline books by Chris Riddell are fab. Actually I think once they get onto chapter books things get better because the books are split by gender so much so there's lots of choice if you can be bothered to separate the fairy princess sparkle shite from the good stuff.

Asleeponasunbeam · 21/04/2015 22:22

Some great ideas on here. I'm reading 'Carbonel' to DD at the moment and Rosemary seems a pretty independent girl (older than your DD).

Oh, also brilliant is 'Ghosts in the House' by Kazuno Kohara - great story of a brilliant little girl with the most beautiful printed illustrations. His 'Jack Frost' is also great for depicting a little boy who has emotions!

Failedspinster, my dc2 would also have been Frances had he been a girl. But we were also very close to picking Gloria!

ElectricalBanana · 21/04/2015 22:11

Gorilla. By Anthony Browne is a lovely book

Failedspinster · 21/04/2015 22:08

Russell Hoban's Frances books! They are brilliant. So brilliant that my DS2 would have been called Frances if he had been a girl.

MmeLindor · 30/03/2015 20:22

Oh, and I forgot! This blog has a very extensive list of feminist friendly children's literature.

MmeLindor · 30/03/2015 20:20

These are for slightly older girls, but Lucy Evans, InstaExplorer books are fabulous, and feature a strong female character. (Disclosure: Written by a friend, and edited by me, but do have a look at the impartial reviews on Amazon!)

A couple of friends and I are self-publishing books featuring strong female characters, both fiction and non-fiction. I've written a book about unknown women adventurers, and am planning more along the same lines. The women who've been forgotten by history. Feel free to PM me for a link.

SkaterGrrrrl · 11/03/2015 14:27

I've just put together a list of books for girls on Riffle which might help:

read.rifflebooks.com/list/171503

HesterBlue · 19/02/2015 17:00

also:

for now:
Apple Tree Farm stories - the girl isn't a particularly strong character but Mrs Boot is a farmer, and Mr Boot hardly ever features

a little later:
Katie Morag stories - Mairi Hedderwick (strong girl, also strong Grannie Island who lives alone, farms and drive a tractor)

a little later still:
the Sophie adventures - Dick King-Smith

I agree that for the 2-3 agegroup there aren't so many strong girl characters, but it seems to get a bit better for older ones!

HesterBlue · 17/02/2015 22:03

How about:

For now:
Tatty Ratty - Helen Cooper
Dogs don't do ballet - Anna Kemp
Zoe and Beans - Chloe and Mick Inkpen
The Gruffulo's Child - Julia Donaldson
The Paper Dolls - Julia Donaldson
Rosie's Hat - Julia Donaldson (girl grows up to be a firefighter!)
Topsy and Tim - the modern series; Topsy is lively and outgoing, Tim is quieter

a little later:
Milly-Molly-Mandy (loads of these) - Joyce Lankaster Brisley
Charlie and Lola
The Pirates Next Door - Jonny Duddle
Mrs Pepperpot - Alf Proysen

a bit later still:
Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren
Matilda - Roald Dahl
The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl

fizzycolagurlie · 15/02/2015 00:50

My husband thinks The Tiger Who Came To Tea is a fictional apologetic cover up for an alcoholic mum who ate all the food in the house after draining the place of "drink". But I still love it.

Original poster
Flojo99 · 10/02/2015 14:35

@crikeyme - thanks for this, the Cressida Cowell books sound very interesting, will investigate.
Whilst I have no qualm with female characters in children's books being whimsical, imaginative, cute, pretty or whatever.... as many wonderful and strong girls are - my gripe is that these seem to be the only ways girls are represented in books. Lola is feisty and smart in 'Charlie & Lola' - but it always seems to be Charlie who's building a rocket, or playing football - Lola has a beautiful imagination, but again, is a 'whimsical' character.
Boys, or male characters, in books do things - they build, fight fires, do sport, are dads who go to work...('The Tiger Who Came to Tea' is a book from another time, and a classic, but I'd disagree that it represents girls/women as fit for anything more than making tea for a tiger - until dad gets back from work and saves the day by taking mum and daughter out for dinner!)
Where are the books that will inspire girls who want to build things, fly planes, achieve in traditionally 'male' skills?
I take your point about princesses - but my DD doesn't want to be one AT ALL (she says!) - which is just as well because she never will be because they are not real - I'm not sure yet what she wants to be but she's enjoying the new 'Tara Binns' book so maybe she'll be a pilot!
Sorry for the rant - I guess once you start to really think about something it suddenly seems to matter a great deal!

OP posts:
Crikeyme · 10/02/2015 12:43

Cressida Cowell's Emily Brown series is great for pre-schoolers (That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, Emily Brown and the Thing, Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency etc) - she's a brilliant little girl who plays with her toy rabbit and is always 'just exploring the Sahara Desert' or 'just scaling Mount Everest' when the doorbell rings. She's a real take-charge kid with a huge imagination, who has tons of adventures just playing in her home.

Charlie and Lola are reliably fab, and when she's a little older, the Clarice Bean books keep the same slightly off-kilter feel (my DD's getting into them now she's 4).

And I wouldn't totally discount princesses - despite our best hopes, a lot of our daughters will go through princess phases, so we'd better start teaching them now that they're not weak or passive. If we want them to know they can be anything they put their mind to, we need to let them work it out for themselves, even if we don't always agree...

Greensmurf1 · 09/02/2015 21:29

We like Emily brown too- this rabbit belongs to Emily brown is a favourite.
Dd is obsessed with Harry an the bucketful of dinosaurs series- is there a similar series with a girl character?

We also love Oliver Jeffers books but they all seem to have boy characters as the lead- are there any similar to his style?

emmaMBC · 09/02/2015 17:46

ooo there are lots of lovely ones you could delve into - they feature strong, lovely girls without resorting to stereotypes ...

This Book Just Ate My Dog

Florentine & Pig series

The Paper Dolls

and this GREAT anti-princess one Primrose

Have fun!

Leeds2 · 08/02/2015 18:53

That sounds a fab book, Flojo.

Leeds2 · 08/02/2015 18:52

Amazing Grace.

Original poster
Flojo99 · 08/02/2015 18:14

Hi all

Felt I needed to revisit this thread to report back on the Tara Binns book I mentioned earlier.

It arrived from Amazon - feels like it was written for me / my daughter! No princesses (what IS it with them and girls books? Even the good role models have to be bloody princesses? Why?). Anyway - not Tara - she's a kid who has a magic dress-up box that contains clothes that 'she wouldn't usually think of' - in the first book she becomes an airline pilot in charge of a jumbo jet (think Mr Ben - for those old enough to remember - but with a girl taking having all the adventures). The nicest thing is the book ends by telling all children that they can do 'amazing things' when they grow up. I love it and, more importantly, my DD does - it's all written in rhyme, really nice illustrations too. I think there are going to be more - there's one on Amazon where she tests crash test dummies (!?) - which I've pre-ordered.

Anyway - feeling pretty excited about finally finding a decent girls role model who isn't a princess, witch, mouse, cat, pig...etc! I'd definitely recommend.

Thanks for all the other suggestions - really great book suggestions but what this thread does also seem to prove it that there really aren't many books for little girls that really inspire them to achieve in a 'real world are there? Interesting...and a little saddening? Thoughts?

OP posts:
KatherinaMinola · 05/02/2015 15:34

The book that morethanpotatoprints mentions is called Flyaway Katie (by the same author as the Tilly and Friends series - we prefer Tilly and Friends though).

Heels99 · 05/02/2015 15:32

This thread is a trip down memory lane... Harriet the spy, aurora, pippi, clever polly...all old faves.

Ones I have discovered with my dds:

Daisy books by kes gray are good.

KatherinaMinola · 05/02/2015 15:31

Rosie's Walk (about a chicken) and Handa's Surprise are other classics.

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