My boys do not have a sister to teach them that girls are awesome, smart, strong, funny people to be around. They have a number of friends who are girls, but I do try to at least temper the frat house atmosphere around here by introducing female characters in the books we read.
The difficulty I have is that I don’t encounter awesome girls in book recommendations for boys very often. In fact, my kid picked up on this unspoken rule and informed me that “books about girls are only for girls.” I had to remind him of the books we have read, which he enjoyed, that are about girls. (Olivia was first on the list, of course.) I think we cleared up that misunderstanding, but the fact remains that, in general, when people recommend books for boys, they are not trying to think of books with amazing female characters.
It is my opinion that this is a serious, serious blind spot. The boys of today are going to be the men of tomorrow, and we need to populate their mental worlds with three dimensional characters who are both male and female. Children use literature as a lens to view themselves, but they also use the stories we tell them as a way to understand the world. If I give my children a lens that only reflects themselves, then how will they learn to see the wonderfulness of the other? This gaping hole in the fictional universe we build for our boys is why, I believe, female superheroes are depicted in such a ludicrous fashion. (Well, either it’s ludicrous, or boobs are a superpower.)
So what is the lone woman in a house full of dudes to do? Well, once I had finished racking my brain for anything we hadn’t read together yet, I asked you guys! I asked the Joy Makin’ Mamas to suggest a list of awesome female characters in books that should be recommended for every child, and you all came through! Without further ado, here is the Joy Makin’ Mamas guide to awesome girls in literature.
Girls in Books for Every Kid
- Mary Lenox in The Secret Garden
- The March sisters in Little Women
- Annamarie from Number the Stars
- Laura from Little House in the Prairie (her mom is pretty great, too!)
- Heidi (of course, from self-named Heidi)
- Fancy Nancy
- Ramona Cleary
- Who Was Series: Anne Frank, Amelia Erhart
- Lyra from the Golden Compass series
- Anne of Green Gables
- Karana from Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
- Sophie in The BFG
- Matilda
- Ariel from The Farwalker’s Quest by Jodi Sensel. (Amazon says it’s for ages 8+.)
- Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery
- Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
- American Girl Books
- Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
- Ballet Shoes
- Nancy Drew
- First four of Edward Eager Tales of Magic series
- Sherwood Smith’s Wren series
- Judy Bloom
- Harriet the Spy
- Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter
- Trixie Belden
So, Mamas- it’s back over to you! If I’ve forgotten someone, please let us know down there in that comment box!
fantastic review. It was both articulate and interesting and of course helpful. I agree boys need to learn about how girls work along with their own selves becuse hopefully it will teach them the delicate and emotional nature of females so that maybe they will grow to be better people in the future.
Actually, I hope they will learn that women are strong, passionate, sensible, intelligent, funny, witty, and smart people who are tired of being called “delicate” and “emotional,” both of which are putdowns in our culture. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Great list – we’ve been working our way through many of these books with our girls! Ramona was such a huge part of my childhood – I hope my girls love her like I did!
I love this! As an elementary school teacher, I could not agree more. I also recommend the Magic Treehouse series.
This is a great list! I have read some of the books in here.. very glad to
meet another like minded mom 🙂
I’d also recommend ‘My Name is Not Isabella” and ‘Dealing With Dragons’