Girl Books for Girls

[osprey_archer]

Yesterday, after I completed my list of favorite child characters, I realized that all the characters I’d listed were girls. It’s not that I avoided male protagonists as a child - I read pretty much everything - but clearly I imprinted on the girls.

Every so often I’ll stumble on someone bemoaning the fact that there’s nothing for girls to read that has good role models, and, okay, have you looked at children’s literature recently? And by recently I mean “within the last two decades.” Because for most of my childhood I did nothing but read and I never had a problem finding books with heroines I enjoyed.

If you’re looking specifically for books about Girls Who Fight, then yes, the pickings are rather slim. There’s all of Tamora Pierce’s books. And Crown Duel. And The Hunger Games and Graceling and, oh, the Narnia books, and the Fearless series which is admittedly a bit out of date, and the Gallagher Girls series - they spy, I’m assuming they fight? - and the Samurai Girl books and, oh wait, I lied, there are PILES of books about girls who can probably beat you into the floor.

Which is great! But frankly, if Girl with Sword is the only kind of character who falls under your “good role model” rubric, then you - and I say this as someone who loves Girls Who Kick Ass books! - are doing this wrong.

There’s a huge selection of awesome girl characters, and moreover, there has been basically since Jo March in Little Women proved that awesomeness sold. Early twentieth century fiction teems with amazing heroines! I am an expert in the field. Brave girls (with swords and without!), smart girls, funny girls, artsy girls, imaginative dreamy shy girls, and any one of these characters can be a good role model.

Which is not to say that girls’ fiction is totally perfect in every way and we ought to stop fretting about it; but we should fret about things that are actually problems. Sheer quantity is not an issue in Anglophone fiction and hasn’t been for over a century.

Comments

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't really get that complaint, either. I mean, when people say "I could never find any female characters I identified with," okay, that's their experience, but it kind of baffles me because as you say, it's not like the quantity and variety aren't there.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

When people who were born in, say, the fifties say that, I can kind of see it, because there was a dip in awesome female character production in midcentury. (Although there were still Lucy & Jill in Narnia and Eowyn in LotR so...maybe not so much?)

But when people our age say it, I tend to assume the problem is them: in my experience there's a high correlation between statements like that and having Issues about female characters.

In a sense it's unfair to blame people for picking up this cultural baggage when they were but lasses...but at the same time, there are some kinds of baggage I just don't want to deal with, so it's useful to know the warning signs.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I totally agree! There are lots of books with excellent girls in them.

I think when I hear this complaint in fandom it's about television series, which I have never watched much of, so I can't really speak to it.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think shows with male protagonists do outnumber (pretty heavily) shows with female, but still, there are lots of shows with awesome female leads. Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls, Castle, Downton Abbey, My Little Pony...

Granted, there aren't that many shows with the female version of bromance (sromance?), which seems to be a thing that a lot of fans like...but still, I think the problem is that people don't look very hard (or don't want to search out less popular fandoms), not that this stuff doesn't exist.

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

Have you ever heard of the Kat Incorrigible (the Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson by Stephanie Burgis)books? I think you'd find them sufficiently kick-assery. :)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I haven't. I should look out for them.

[anomilygrace.livejournal.com]

When ordering books for the library, it sometimes feels like 'Girl Who Fights' is becoming the shorthand for "strong female character" weak authors use instead of actual characterization.

Thankfully the explosion of YA books gives a fairly large range of female characters, but anyone who claims there aren't enough girls who fight is not paying attention.

Also the Gallagher Girls books (and the author's other series Heist Society) are hilarious and great.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it might also reflect the popularity of the Hunger Games? People might be trying to jump on that Girl Who Fights bandwagon, just like there was such a flood of paranormal romance when Twilight got so big.

[thegreylioness.livejournal.com]

Robin Mckinley's The Hero and the Crown and also her The Blue Sword are also great girls who fight books.

(Was searching Tamora Pierce interest and saw your blog, sorry for dropping in. ;) )

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Nice to meet you! I always like talking to drop ins.

And I bet there are stacks of books about Girls Who Fight that I forgot to list, because it really is a trope that's all over literature these days.

[thegreylioness.livejournal.com]

Do you think it's because of the resurgence and Girl Power type feminism? I mentioned Robin McKinley because along with Tamora Pierce, I love those two books of Robin McKinley, and up until I tried reading RM's Sunshine I had loved all of her books but I just can't get into Sunshine for the life of me.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes, Girl Power feminism probably is at the root of it - though now that Girl with Weapon books have proven so popular, with Pierce and McKinley and the Hunger Games and Graceling, I think there's a feedback cycle that keeps them going.

I've had the opposite experience with McKinley's books: Sunshine is the only one of her books I really adored. A dessert called Death of Marat!

Also, Fluttershy icon for the win!