Children's fiction with female heros/main characters?

[FlipFantasia]

Hello

I'm looking for books for children with female main characters especially anything that's equivalent to Harry Potter/Artemis Fowl.

Sorry if this is the wrong spot to post in!

TIA

Inkspell

Try looking here: www.letterboxlibrary.com/

The Hunger Games
Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy

Violet Baudelaire, from the Lemony Snicket Books, Lyra Belacqua His Dark Materials Trilogy

I love His Dark Materials but was stumped about anything else. I've heard great things about Cornelia Funke.

My DC are young (DS 2 and DD 3 months) but am already finding books to be boringly gendered. Which got me thinking about what books there are for older children...

Also Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale, DD had it as a 9th birthday present and still loves it 3 years later.

A bit sooner, The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp!

There are several good fantasy ones for older children - Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce or Anne McCaffrey have some strong female characters. Also Robin McKinley, Terry Pratchett (esp. the Tiffany Aching books, or the witches in the adult books),... I'm sure there are loads more too that I can't think of just now!

I always loved the Amazons in Swallows & Amazons, they were much better than the Swallows who were a bit prissy I thought!

We also used to love some of the girls' school ones (Chalet school, Mallory Towers etc) - they are quite dated now of course but might still be enjoyed?

Not for older ones but in a year or so for your 2 year old there is Princess Smartypants who doesn't want to get married and does very well on her own plus Zog by Julia Donaldson where the princess wants to be a Dr and gets the knight who tried to save her to join up too :)

Yy to Inkheart and Princess Smartypants, and the Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, the Ottoline books by Chris Riddell, the My Totally Secret Diary series by Dee Shulman, the Witchbaby books by Debi Gliori... Oh, and most definitely the Sophie books by Dick King-Smith.

Try the books listed on amightygirl.com!

Depending on what age you're looking for, Trudi Canavan did two trilogies that I know of, both with female leads iirc. The Black Magician Trilogy (young girl beats the system and becomes a kick ass magician), and The Age of Five trilogy (young women becomes very powerful priestess and changes the course of history). However, there are references to love and sex, not actual scenes, but vague references.

Look at the fiction lists on A Mighty Girl.

Ooh, second a vote for Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley - I've just re-read The Song of The Lioness quartet (Pierce) and The Blue Sword (McKinley) and it's been the best few weeks ever for bedtime reading! Wonderful realistic heroines who do great things, Alanna in the Lioness books has great determination and strength in the face of adversity - a very likeable role-model.

Also, it's a very minor point in the books but something I, as an adult love about them: these books also have a lovely progressive attitude towards female sexuality. Nothing graphic ( the Pierce books are definitely suitable for a 9-11ish reader, the McKinley ones perhaps more like 10+, just in writing style) but young women have sex with men they love, and no one gets pregnant or dies or is shamed for it. Which is rather what I'd want my hypothetical daughters to expect from their teenage sexual experiences - I wish I'd had some books normalizing teens-and-early-twenties sex when I was becoming sexually curious (though way, way off thinking about actually doing anything!).

I repeat, it's a tiny, tiny part of the books themselves- they are more interested in swords and quests and adventures and good friends and good triumphing over evil - but as a grownup re-reading them I thought: that's amazingly progressive for the time they were written. That's BRILLIANT! So I thought I'd point it out. :)

There's a post in feminist book club here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/feminist_book_club/1228521-Pro-Feminist-Fiction-books-for-Girls that I found really helpful.

Yes The Blue Sword is brilliant, and The Hero and the Crown - 2 of my favourite books ever (still got tatty old copies of both in my bookshelf!).

Skulduggery Pleasant's main character is a tough girl, who is being trained as a sorceress and detective by the title character. Lots of action, excitement and humour. It's a series, 6 books are out, number 7 due in august I believe. Written by Derek Landy.

The Inkheart/Inkspell books by Cornelia Funke are cool too!

It's not a long book, maybe for slightly younger kids but 'the paperbag princess' By Robert Munsch is brilliant.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming

itsthequietones thanks for that link - v useful!

Sweet & Casey thanks for the link to amightygirl.com - what a great site!

My daughter currently is a huge Pippi Longstocking fan. And soon enough I shall introduce her to Ronja, Robber's daughter, another Astrid Lindgren classic.

Diamond of drury lane and other Cat Royal books. reading age of 10ish + mild swearing and violence. I'd say they fit your wish for a HP a like series.

Dick King Smith's "sophie " books - reading age of 5-7 but enjoyed as a read aloud younger.

The Madeleine books - good for younger children and they have lovely illustrations. My DDs love them!

Sorry, Madeline.

The Silver Crown - by Robert O'Brien - I loved that

great thread!
am checking some of these out for DS1 who is 7 and is already picking up from other boys at school that girls can't possibly be heros/strong/good at anything

so any that are particularly unisex (ie, he won't read princess smartypants )?