Children's Literacy Round-Up: June 2
Sunday Afternoon Visits: June 4

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.

  1. Alanna from The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
  2. Ana from Anatopsis by Chris Abouzeid
  3. Anidori–Kiladra Talianna Isillee from The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
  4. Annabel Andrews from Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
  5. Annabeth from The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  6. Arrietty from The Borrowers series by Mary Norton
  7. Bella from Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
  8. Betsy Ray from Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
  9. Cam Jansen from the series by David A. Adler
  10. Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  11. Charlotte from Charlotte's Rose by A. E. Connon
  12. Charlotte from Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
  13. Coraline from Coraline by Neil Gaiman
  14. Darrell Rivers from the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
  15. Dorrie the little witch from the series (Dorrie and the Haunted Schoolhouse, etc.) by Patricia Coombs
  16. Ella from Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
  17. Francie by Karen English
  18. India Opal Buloni from Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
  19. Ingrid from the Echo Falls books (starting with Down the Rabbit Hole) by Peter Abrahams
  20. Jane Stuart from Jane of Lantern Hill by Lucy Maud Montgomery
  21. Judy from Judy's Journey by Lois Lenski
  22. Juli Baker from Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
  23. Junie B. Jones from the series by Barbara Park
  24. Katie from Hoofbeats: Katie and the Mustang by Kathleen Duey
  25. Katie John from the series by Mary Calhoun
  26. Keladry of the Protector of the Small Quartet (starting with First Test) by Tamora Pierce
  27. Koly from Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
  28. Lina Mayfleet from The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
  29. Lou Emma Miller from the series (for example Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma Miller?) by Alberta Wison Constant
  30. Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards
  31. Margaret from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  32. Martha from both the The Little House in the Highlands and Little House by Boston Bay series by Melissa Wiley
  33. Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
  34. Maximum Ride from Maximum Ride : The Angel Experiment and Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson
  35. Miriam Williard from Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
  36. Nancy Blackett from Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
  37. Nory Ryan from Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff's
  38. Nymah Rose from East by Edith Pattou
  39. Olivia by Ian Falconer
  40. Parvana from Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
  41. Penny Gareth from The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfield
  42. Petra from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  43. Philippa Gaunt from the Children of the Lamp series (starting with The Akhenaten Adventure) by P. B. Kerr
  44. Petrova Fossil from Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
  45. Rosie Brine from the Maida books by Inez Haynes Irwin
  46. Sabrina and Daphne from The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives series by Michael Buckley
  47. Sammy Keyes from the series by Wendelin Van Draanen
  48. Sara from The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
  49. Skye from The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
  50. Sumiko in Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
  51. Tally Youngblood from the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
  52. Violet from the Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket

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

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

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.

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