Jen Robinson's Book Page: Cool Girls from Kid Lit: The Long List

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Cool Girls from Kid Lit: The Long List

May 31, 2006

Last week, I started a list of Cool Girls from Kid Lit. Here is what I specified for "cool" criteria: "they should be smart and strong and independent, people who would make good role-models for girls today."

Apparently, a lot of people who blog about children's literature have a special interest in cool girls, because I received by far the most feedback that I've ever had for a post. You can go to the original post and read everyone's comments, but I thought that there would be benefit to a single, organized list of all of the suggestions so far.

I'll follow up later this week with a short list of the most popular entries (Lyra, Laura, and Harriet are in the lead, based on the very unscientific feedback that I've received so far). So, if you haven't cast your vote (by commenting) for your favorites, now is your chance. And if you think that I've missed anyone, do let me know, and I'll update the list.

Many, many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the list so far! You can find the list of contributors at the end of this post. If you click back to the original post comments, you can see who suggested what. Thanks!

Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Amy from The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes
Anastasia Krupnik from the series by Lois Lowry
Anna from As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
April and Melanie from The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Arabella from The Windmill Summer by Hila Feil
Babymouse from Babymouse: Queen of the World! (and sequels) by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Belinda from Little Plum by Ed Young
Boots from the Gregor The Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Cedar B. Hartley from The Slightly True Story Of Cedar B. Hartley by Martine Murray
Christina from the Flambards books by K. M. Peyton
Cimorene from Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Claudia from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Corinna Stonewall from The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
Dicey from Homecoming and Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
Dido Twite from Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket (among others) by Joan Aiken
Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Eilonwy from the Prydain Chronicles (e.g. The Castle of Llyr) by Lloyd Alexander
Elizabeth Ann from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Ellie from Squashed by Joan Bauer
Eloise from the series by Kay Thompson
Emily from Emily of New Moon (and sequels) by L. M. Mongtomery
Francie Nolan from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Frances from A Bargain for Frances (and others) by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban
Franny K. Stein from the series by Jim Benton
Harriet M. Welch from Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Crewe from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Ivy from The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Jane from The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Jenna Blake from the Body of Evidence series (starting with Body Bags) by Christopher Golden
Jennifer from Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg
Jill Pole from The Silver Chair and The Last Battle (Narnia books) by C. S. Lewis
Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Josie Alibrandi from Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Judy Moody from the series by Megan McDonald
Julia from Night Daddy by Maria Gripe
Karana from Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Kate from Look Through My Window by Jean Little
Kate from Sensible Kate by Doris Gates
Kit Tyler from The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Laura Ingalls from the Little House books (and she's a real person, too!)
Liesel from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Lilly from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and other books by Kevin Henkes
Lirael by Garth Nix
Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S. Lewis
Lyra from the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Lola from The House of Stairs by William Sleator
Margaret Thursday from Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfield
Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Martha from The Secret Language by Ursula Nordstrom
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Meg from A Wrinkle in Time (and sequels) by Madeleine L'Engle
Meg from The President's Daughter (and others) by Ellen Emerson White
Meggie from the Inkheart books by Cornelia Funke
Melinda from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Menolly from Dragonsong (and others Pern books) by Anne McCaffrey
Mia from The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot
Minnow from The Seventeenth-Street Gang by E. C. Neville
Miss Bianca from The Rescuers books by Margery Sharp
Molly Moon from Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng
Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
Nita from the Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane
Omakayas (or Little Frog) from The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Polly from Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Pony from Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
Rachel Pye from Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes
Ramona Quimby from the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary
Randy from the Melendy books (starting with The Saturdays) by Elizabeth Enright
Roberta (Bobbie) from The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Sal from Blueberries for Sal and One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
Sara Crewe from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sarah from One Morning in Maine by Lucy Frank
Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Simone from A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt
Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Susannah Simon from the Mediator books by Meg Cabot.
Sylvia and Bonnie from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Tacy from Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
Tish Sterling from The Keeping Days by Norma Johnston
Trixie Belden from the series by Julie Campbell
Trot from The Scarecrow of Oz and other Oz books by L. Frank Baum
Turtle from The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Vesper Holly from The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander
Winnie from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Zoe from A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary A. Pearson