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.