Fantasy books with girls/women as the main character?

[Takver]

DD reads a lot of fantasy books - the Eragon series, Wizard of Earthsea, Diana Wynne Jones Chrestomanci series, Charlie Bone, Harry Potter, that sort of thing.

Thinking about it, although there are plenty of strong female characters in them, just about all of these books have a male protagonist. The only series' I can think of with female leads are the Narnia books (taking Lucy as the main character for several, which I think is fair enough), and the Dark Materials trilogy.

Can anyone think of any other fantasy books (ideally series!) with a female lead - I just think it would be nice for a change for dd to have some books where the women get to be centre stage.

She's 9 btw, so need to be reasonably age-appropriate - so not Mercedes Lackey, for example, and probably not the Dragonrider books, though can't remember how unsuitable they might be (actually, if they weren't too dreadfully inappropriate they might be just her sort of thing).

Trudi Canavan -Magician's GUILD series (sorry for caps phone playing up)
Tamora PIERCE- ALANNA BOOKS
Robin HOBB- Liveship traders series

Oh and the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. Princess Eilonwy a great role model.

It's not fantasy but it does have talking animals and 2 girl protagonists. I loved it as a child and my son and neice loved it too, it's called wind on the moon by Eric linklater. It's a bit like Evelyn Waugh for kids.

Also this is more historical than fantasy but i also like Charlotte sometimes. I can't remember the author.

Some of the Anne Mccaffery books would be perfect, I think.

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series has two pre-teen female heroines

great fun

Seeker (or anyone else), can you remember whether / which of the other Anne McCaffrey books are suitable for a 9 y/o? I hadn't realised that the Harper Hall ones were specifically written for a younger audience, but I suspect that having read those three dd will want to read more of the Pern books.

I don't remember there being anything too awful in any of them (or indeed the language etc being overly complex), but its a very long time since I read them! They don't have many in the county library system, so either dd or I would have to buy them, hence it would be good to know before hand whether they're likely to go down well (otherwise I'd just get them from the library & read in advance).

(Dragons + heartless parents + misunderstood young girl . . . what more could a 9 y/o want )

OK, just laying out Diana Wynne Jones here:

Witch Week - several strong females, who actually end up helping Cherstomanci
Time of the Ghost - all the main characters are female, including the baddie
Howl's Moving Castle - very strong female lead
The Dalemark Quartet - worth reading all of it, but especially the Spellcoats and the Crown of Dalemark.
The Pinhoe Egg - lead character is female and powerful
Darklord of Derkholm and year of the Griffin - they should be read together. The first is not particularly female-led but has several strong female leads, the second has a main character who is not only female but also not human (griffin).
Deep Secret and The Merlin Conspiracy - the first has a female lead who is sometimes a bit irritating, the second switches between two main voices, one of whom is female and strong (and tied in with lots of mythology too).
I'd also recommend Fire and Hemlock, though possibly wait until DD is 12-ish, Hexwood (ditto, scenes of violence and torture), A Tale of Time City and Black Mariah (this last shows the dark as well as the light side of female magic)

All in all DWJ is a stunning writer for us feminists, and it's a shame she is no longer with us. My 8yo DD is reading a lot of this stuff too.

Saw your post on Dancergirl's thread, so had to come read here. Very surprised no-one has mentioned Shannon Hale yet, Goose Girl, princess Academy etc.

Terry Pratchett's bromeliad. Protagonist is male, but Grimma has a major role, and pulls it together when the males all fall apart.

The Artemis Fowl series obviously has a male lead, but I'd argue Holly Short is equally a lead role throughout the books.

Also by Eoin Colfer is The Wish List, fabulous book.

I love Terry Pratchett and DWJ too, although I can't stand Sophie from HMC, much prefer Howl himself .