More Cool Girls from Kid Lit

Earlier this week I posted Cool Girls from Kid Lit: The Long List, with 92 entries. This was immediately taken as a challenge by my friends in blog land, who asked their friends to help get the list up to 100. Well, people apparently listen to you all, because in the past two days, I've been simply deluged with additional suggestions. Many many thanks to all of you who participated!!

The total list is now at 144 (and yes, I'm sure that we could get it to 200 without too much difficulty, but I'm not issuing that as a challenge, because I do want to make sure that we keep focused on cool girls, not just any girls). I'm posting the list of newly suggested cool girls here. I'll give it a few more days, and then put up the combined list, and a list of who seems to be most popular, based on mentions in the comments. Currrently in the lead we have Laura Ingalls and Turtle, closely followed by Anne Shirley, Harriet, Lyra, and Ramona. What do you think? Who are the coolest (bravest, strongest, smartest) girls from children's literature?

Here are the new entries. The previous list is here.

93. Alanna from The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
94. Ana from Anatopsis by Chris Abouzeid
95. Anidori–Kiladra Talianna Isillee from The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
96. Annabel Andrews from Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
97. Annabeth from The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
98. Arrietty from The Borrowers series by Mary Norton
99. Bella from Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
100. Betsy Ray from Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
101. Cam Jansen from the series by David A. Adler
102. Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
103. Charlotte from Charlotte's Rose by A. E. Connon
104. Charlotte from Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
105. Coraline from Coraline by Neil Gaiman
106. Darrell Rivers from the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
107. Dorrie the little witch from the series (Dorrie and the Haunted Schoolhouse, etc.) by Patricia Coombs
108. Ella from Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
109. Francie by Karen English
110. India Opal Buloni from Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
111. Ingrid from the Echo Falls books (starting with Down the Rabbit Hole) by Peter Abrahams
112. Jane Stuart from Jane of Lantern Hill by Lucy Maud Montgomery
113. Judy from Judy's Journey by Lois Lenski
114. Juli Baker from Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
115. Junie B. Jones from the series by Barbara Park
116. Katie from Hoofbeats: Katie and the Mustang by Kathleen Duey
117. Katie John from the series by Mary Calhoun
118. Keladry of the Protector of the Small Quartet (starting with First Test) by Tamora Pierce
119. Koly from Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
120. Lina Mayfleet from The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
121. Lou Emma Miller from the series (for example Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma Miller?) by Alberta Wison Constant
122. Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards
123. Margaret from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
124. Martha from both the The Little House in the Highlands and Little House by Boston Bay series by Melissa Wiley
125. Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
126. Maximum Ride from Maximum Ride : The Angel Experiment and Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson
127. Miriam Williard from Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
128. Nancy Blackett from Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
129. Nory Ryan from Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff's
130. Nymah Rose from East by Edith Pattou
131. Olivia by Ian Falconer
132. Parvana from Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
133. Penny Gareth from The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfield
134. Petra from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
135. Philippa Gaunt from the Children of the Lamp series (starting with The Akhenaten Adventure) by P. B. Kerr
136. Petrova Fossil from Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
137. Rosie Brine from the Maida books by Inez Haynes Irwin
138. Sabrina and Daphne from The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives series by Michael Buckley
139. Sammy Keyes from the series by Wendelin Van Draanen
140. Sara from The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
141. Skye from The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
142. Sumiko in Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
143. Tally Youngblood from the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
144. Violet from the Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket

More Contributors and Commenters (those not listed on the previous post)

• Wisteria from Twice Bloomed Wisteria
• Agnes and Alice from Cottage Blessings
• Christine from The Simple and the Ordinary
• Anne from Book Buds
• Melissa Wiley from Here in the Bonny Glen
• Stephanie from Children's Literature Book Club
• Beth from Woman of the Tiger Moon
• Kate S. from Kate's Book Blog
• Liz M.
• Mirissa
• Katie
• Heidi
• Cate

Special thanks to the following people who linked to the Cool Girls lists on their blogs

• Becky from Farm School
• Gregory K. from Gotta Book
• Kelly from Big A little a
• Melissa from Here in the Bonny Glen
• ReadAlert
• Susan from Chicken Spaghetti
• Wendy from Blog from the Windowsill

If I missed you, please let me know. Thanks again, everyone! I think that it's wonderful that between us we know of so many cool girls from children's literature.

Comments

[sally apokedak]

You didn't miss me but I meant to suggest Miri from Princess Academy and I guess I forgot. I thought she was very strong and smart.

[Becky]

Yay for Arrietty, and Katie John, and huzzah for Charlotte :)

[Sheila Ruth]

Ooh, ooh, am I too late to contribute? I wanted to suggest Leaf, from Garth Nix' Keys to the Kingdom series. She's ultra cool, and brave too! And I also think Suzy Turquoise Blue, from the same series, is pretty cool, but she's not human so maybe she doesn't count.

Of the ones already on the list, I'd vote for Jane in The Dark is Rising series, Trot in the Oz books, Violet in The Series of Unfortunate Events, and definitely Hermione!

[Sheila Ruth]

Actually, I want to correct myself. Suzy is human. But as a Piper's Child, she seems a little less human than Arthur and Leaf.

[Stephanie]

If I had to vote for one, I'd vote for ... Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lyra, Meg Murray (O'Keefe), and Menolly. So there.

[Fe]

And some more...

Jo Bettany from the Chalet School Books by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer.

Josie from Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks for the feedback! I've counted all votes, and added any new suggestions to my master list (I'll post the full list, now up to 160, in a few days. And no, Sheila Ruth, you're certainly not too late to contribute! Thanks to all!

[Fred Charles]

"Petra from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card"

This is a good one. I love that book.

[Electric Landlady]

Wow, great list!

I wave the flag of support for Anne Shirley, Sophie Hatter, Nancy Blackett, and Olivia. And wanted to mention (even if it's too late) Jinny Manders, from the Jinny at Finmory series by Patricia Leitch, because she is awesome.

[Electric Landlady]

Ack, I missed the update!

Tiffany Aching is also great. And I forgot to mention Kate Sutton from The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Pope...

[ivy]

When I was a girl, I loved Ivy Carson from Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Changeling. I know she isn't your typical heroine, but she was so imaginative and mysterious and in the end she does what she always dreamed she could do.

[radmama]

So pleased to see Nancy The Pirate from Swallows and Amazons up there!!!

Do you have Sally from the Encyclopedia Brown books? Or Fane and Emily from The Doll in the Wall by Angela Bull? (seems to be out of print...)

Suzie from Jack Lovejoy's "The Rebel Witch"?

Most of the heroines in the Our Canadian Girls series are also very cool. We have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of these books, especially my "hungry for historical detail" ten year old son.

[radmama]

And Rosamund from Nate the Great! She is weird, but cool.

[Bibliophile]

I think that Jo from Little Women should be added to the cool girls list!

[Grant]

What about Sophie in Roald Dahl's The BFG?

[Carissa]

Cimarene from enchanted forest chronicles-and definately Alianne in the Trickster books by Tamora Pierce-Miri from princess academy by Shannon Hale.