More Cool Girls from Kid Lit
June 02, 2006
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.
- Alanna from The Song of the Lioness Quartet
by Tamora Pierce
- Ana from Anatopsis
by Chris Abouzeid
- Anidori–Kiladra Talianna Isillee from The Goose Girl
by Shannon Hale
- Annabel Andrews from Freaky Friday
by Mary Rodgers
- Annabeth from The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
- Arrietty from The Borrowers
series by Mary Norton
- Bella from Bella at Midnight
by Diane Stanley
- Betsy Ray from Betsy-Tacy
by Maud Hart Lovelace
- Cam Jansen from the series
by David A. Adler
- Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle
by Dodie Smith
- Charlotte from Charlotte's Rose
by A. E. Connon
- Charlotte from Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
- Coraline from Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
- Darrell Rivers from the Malory Towers
series by Enid Blyton
- Dorrie the little witch from the series (Dorrie and the Haunted Schoolhouse
, etc.) by Patricia Coombs
- Ella from Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine
- Francie
by Karen English
- India Opal Buloni from Because of Winn-Dixie
by Kate DiCamillo
- Ingrid from the Echo Falls books (starting with Down the Rabbit Hole
) by Peter Abrahams
- Jane Stuart from Jane of Lantern Hill
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Judy from Judy's Journey
by Lois Lenski
- Juli Baker from Flipped
by Wendelin Van Draanen
- Junie B. Jones from the series
by Barbara Park
- Katie from Hoofbeats: Katie and the Mustang
by Kathleen Duey
- Katie John
from the series by Mary Calhoun
- Keladry of the Protector of the Small Quartet (starting with First Test
) by Tamora Pierce
- Koly from Homeless Bird
by Gloria Whelan
- Lina Mayfleet from The City of Ember
and The People of Sparks
by Jeanne DuPrau
- Lou Emma Miller from the series (for example Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma Miller?
) by Alberta Wison Constant
- Mandy
by Julie Andrews Edwards
- Margaret from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
by Judy Blume
- Martha from both the The Little House in the Highlands
and Little House by Boston Bay
series by Melissa Wiley
- Matilda Bone
by Karen Cushman
- Maximum Ride from Maximum Ride : The Angel Experiment
and Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever
by James Patterson
- Miriam Williard from Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
- Nancy Blackett from Swallows and Amazons
by Arthur Ransome
- Nory Ryan from Nory Ryan's Song
by Patricia Reilly Giff's
- Nymah Rose from East
by Edith Pattou
- Olivia
by Ian Falconer
- Parvana from Breadwinner
by Deborah Ellis
- Penny Gareth from The Growing Summer
by Noel Streatfield
- Petra from Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card
- Philippa Gaunt from the Children of the Lamp series (starting with The Akhenaten Adventure
) by P. B. Kerr
- Petrova Fossil from Ballet Shoes
by Noel Streatfeild
- Rosie Brine from the Maida
books by Inez Haynes Irwin
- Sabrina and Daphne from The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives
series by Michael Buckley
- Sammy Keyes from the series
by Wendelin Van Draanen
- Sara from The Summer of the Swans
by Betsy Byars
- Skye from The Penderwicks
by Jeanne Birdsall
- Sumiko in Weedflower
by Cynthia Kadohata
- Tally Youngblood from the Uglies
series by Scott Westerfeld
- 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.