(no subject)

[erbie]

Hello flist! I am looking for your book recommendations.

I want to find books for my daughters that have strong female leads. I don't want books where the princess rejects all her suitors or anything else that's just her rebelling against her female role. I don't want that to be an issue. I have plenty of those and frankly, with me as a mother, that's not really a problem. ;) I want books where the female is in the role that is traditionally given to the male. I don't want anything about her being rescued by any man. I want Harry Potter with a female Harry. Or The Phantom Tollbooth with a female Milo.

Remember that my oldest is only seven, so I'd like things that are good for her now. She's just starting to be interested in chapter books. I'd also like things that I can steer her towards as she gets older.

So whaddayagot?

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

the first thing that comes to mind is _Keeper of the Isis Light_ by Monica Hughes, but I was 10 or 11 when I read that.... Will think more.

[shashalnikya.livejournal.com]

The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, although they are for kids who are a little older. Really great stuff!

How about Island of the Blue Dolphin? That was one of my favorite books growing up.

I also liked the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. ...Yes, these are all old books. But good ones!

You should really ask a local childrens' librarian, too. They usually know all sorts of great books she'd probably like.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

oh, yes! Definitely Island of the Blue Dolphin!

[archaica.livejournal.com]

i'll forward this on to my friends who are elementary/preschool teachers, with permission!

[erbie.livejournal.com]

Please do!

[firynze.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend investing in a book of Russian faery tales. The heroes are usually kinda blundering and always helped out by supernatural beings (typically animals), but in a delightful twist, the HEROINES are almost always exceedingly clever and good at taking care of themselves without help.

That, and they're fun. ^_^

(In chapter books, Dealing with Dragons is AMAZING. Bob would love it. It's not too high a reading level for a seven-year-old, and Cimorene is quite frankly fantastic. She cooks, she cleans, she does magic, she translates Greek, she fences, and she has no interest whatsoever in being rescued by a knight.)

[raithen.livejournal.com]

YES. of coures Dealing With Dragons and it's sequels! Patricia Wrede is the author, Erbie.

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

(I got those Wrede books for erbie for some holiday a year or two ago!)

[wyldegrey.livejournal.com]

I was just scanning the comments to check that no one else had recced Dealing With Dragons! As it stands, I'll fourth it!

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Oh! I can't believe I forgot the Trixie Belden series! I always loved those mysteries - they're a little dated these days, but they were always way better than Nancy Drew. Trixie was a tough tomboy who could totally take care of herself and her friends...

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Sharon Shinn did a run of young-adult books with two that had female leads (The Safe-Keeper's Secret, The Truth-Teller's Tale and The Dream-Maker's Magic, with the last being about a boy). They're grade 7 and up, though.

Similarly, Alma Alexander's Worldweavers series features a young girl who does magic through computers - sort of Harry Potter with a girl Harry and re-invented for the modern age. ;) It might be a little tough for her to read it on her own but the subject matter itself is very accessible to a younger kid (again, like Harry Potter in the earliest books).

Mercedes Lackey, for all that she did a huge run of kind of stereotypical Magic Pretty Horse books, also has the lesser-known duology of Oathbound and Oathbreakers which features a sorceress and a swordswoman traveling together. She followed it up with the semi-sequel By The Sword, which is my all-time favorite female hero book ever. (A teenage girl's sister-in-law is kidnapped during her wedding feast; when the men in the household refuse to step up, she straps on a sword and goes on a quest.) Both are definitely for the 12-16 age range at the youngest, rather than 7-year-olds, but if you keep this on file for a few years I bet she'll be delighted.

In the purely adult category, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld series and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series feature women who kick some serious ass.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld series and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series feature women who kick some serious ass.

They are fun... I wouldn't exactly call 'em free from gender stereotyping, though!

[samaphore.livejournal.com]

I was reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder series at about her age (though I might have been eight); Ma and Pa have traditional roles, but Laura is endlessly getting dirty, climbing on things, rejecting the whole idea of shoes, etc. Also, these books I'm pretty sure instilled in me a serious lack of materialism. Laura is excited when she gets her first (and only) doll, and when she and her sister finally get their own tin cups, rather than having to share one. Puts a sharp focus on experience rather than stuff, which is a nice message for these days. I gave Little House in the Big Woods to K's (then eight-year-old) sister for Christmas last year.

Also, you can't beat From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a story in which a girl and her younger brother run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The girl is in charge of her brother, and must use resourcefulness and cunning, etc. They of course learn the important lessons about home and telling the truth at the end.

This is definitely too old for her, but a must for the future (I read it at age 9) is Island of the Blue Dolphins, about an eskimo (?) girl who is the last of her tribe left behind on an island. She has to hunt, fish, defend herself against marauding Aleuts, etc., but the subject matter is probably too old for Bob yet. Wait for fourth grade.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

"Also, you can't beat From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"

Ohhh, yes! I can't believe I forgot this one! Also, I'm not sure I've ever met anyone else who'd read it. :) God, I loved that book.

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

The Tamora Pierce books!

And the Ramona Quimby books!

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

(Tamora Pierce being the author!)

[bluepoet.livejournal.com]

I'd talk to the women who work at a local women's bookstore. (I'd send you to ours, but the page isn't loading. :( ) That's where I always find the most interesting kids' books, like about the environment, diversity, etc.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

_National Velvet_ might be another good one -- there are traditional roles, but Velvet bucks everything to ride Pie in the National Steeplechase.

[alunatic.livejournal.com]

Again, better for when she's older (unless you want to read them aloud to her!) but the Dragonsong/Dragonsinger books by Anne McCaffrey are good.

Hm... the more I think about it, the more I come up with books for older girls. :P Madeleine L'engle's Swiftly Tilting Planet books; CJ Cherryh always has strong female characters.

Oh hey, this looks like an interesting book...
http://eric.ed.gov:80/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ578347&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ578347

[wyldegrey.livejournal.com]

I can't think of anything that hasn't been recced all ready, but I'll ask my mom when she gets home (she's an elementary school librarian).

[erbie.livejournal.com]

Ooh, she should have some good ones! Thanks!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I am not so good on books for younger kids, but will scan my shelves when I get home.

For slightly older kids: there's Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith).

I quite enjoyed the first Worst Witch book by Jill Murphy. Sort of Harry Potterish, but at a girls' school.

I also really love all my English pony books (for many reasons but including sexism being basically a non-issue) but they are hard to find over here. Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Patricia Leitch, Monica Edwards...

Seconding many of the recs above, btw!

ETA: Jane Yolen has a ton of good stuff.

oooh, another one that I am very fond of is The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye.

also also: I must find this book!

[erbie.livejournal.com]

That last one is perfect! I'm ordering that now.

[amyura.livejournal.com]

Ramona Quimby, Emily Starr (LM Montgomery), The Narnia books, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. Those are off the top of my head; I'll try and think of more. When I was between the ages of 7 and, well, high school, I read almost exclusively girl-hero books.

Also, there's a book of feminist fairy tales called Don't Bet on the Prince. Most of the individual stories are unfortunately now out of print, but they're a varied bunch. My favorite by far is Petronella.

Finally, one of my hands-down favorite stories, ever, is The Gift of the Pirate Queen by Patricia Reilly Giff. Gender roles don't play into it at all but it's all strong women. Giff also wrote a couple of mysteries appropriate for kids a few years older than Bob-- one was called Have You Seen Hyacinth McCaw?

And....I can't think of the authors, but the series around The Saturdays involves a family of four children, the Melendys, in the 1940s, two girls and two boys. The younger girl is VERY spunky and doesn't adhere to traditional gender roles. And the series about the girl named Al, two of the titles are A Girl Called Al and Al(exandra) The Great. That second author wrote a few other books that were pretty good, another one I remember was I and Sproggy.

[megaelim.livejournal.com]

I'll second Roly's Tamora Pierce recommendation, and also (for when she's a little older), Garth Nix's Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen. Those are true YA books, but he's also written some younger aimed books, of which I've only read the Seventh Tower books. They were pretty good, but I liked Sabriel, et al better.

[jensantarelli.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if Bob is old enough for these yet, but some of my favorites were The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery and Harriet The Spy. The Anne of Green Gables series was awesome, too.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I think THe Blue Castly should likely wait -- it's one of the darker LM Montgomery's -- but Ann is a good place to start, as is Emily of New Moon, mentionned above.

[live-momma.livejournal.com]

BTDT. My oldest girl is 8. ;-) So far, I recommend:

The earlier works of Gail Carson Levine, especially The Two Princesses of Bamarre and Ella Enchanted.

Anything by Robin McKinnley. Check for age appropriateness (nothing truly graphic, but some have content that a 7 year old won't like/won't understand/might find disturbing).

Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George.

Digger by Ursula Vernon. This is a graphic novel (series), and Vernon considers it PG-13, but so far, I haven't seen anything I wouldn't let my kids read.

I'm having trouble thinking right now. When E- is feeling better, I'll ask her what she recommends, too.

[merina.livejournal.com]

Much of what I'd recommend has already been suggested - Another Jane Yolen is "Not one Damsel in Distress". My 9 year old likes the Sisters Grimm series.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Thought of another one... Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. Three adopted sisters learn ballet and acting to help out the family finances. The middle one hates it and wants to be a mechanic. Absolutely packed with great girls and women! I still love it.

[erbie.livejournal.com]

That one was mentioned in You've Got Mail! Meg Ryan's character loved those books. There's also dancing Shoes, Theater Shoes, Party Shoes and Traveling Shoes.