When Carrie Gelson shared her post about the 25 girls and 25 boys who stood out to her in young adult and middle grade literature and asked us to join in by writing our own, Ricki and I knew we had to. We read hundreds of books each year, but there are certain characters that stay in your heart year after year. Below are the 25 girls who remained with me. Originally, I had 71 girls on the list, so narrowing it down to 25 was so difficult; however, I am very proud of the 25 young women who I did choose. They are a special bunch who I hope have affected you as much as they’ve affected me, or you feel inclined to read their book because of this list.
**Click on any book title below to see my review or the Goodreads summary of the book**
- Kate de Vries from Airborn (Series: Matt Cruse) by Kenneth Oppel
- Lina from Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
- Willow Chance from Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
- Sophie Biyoya-Ciardulli from Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
- Hazel Grace Lancaster from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- Ally from Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
- Claudette from Giants Beware! (Series: Chronicles of Claudette) by Jorge Aguirre
- Katsa from Graceling by Kristen Cashore
- Hermoine from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Series: Harry Potter) by J.K. Rowling
- Joey Willis from Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby
- Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and Stacy McGill from Kristy’s Great Idea (Series: The Baby-Sitters Club) by Ann M. Martin
- Camila from Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil
- Annabeth from The Lightning Thief (Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan
- Marlee and Liz from The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
- Matilda from Matilda by Roald Dahl
- Melody from Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper
- Phoebe from Phoebe and Her Unicorn (Series: Heavenly Nostrils) by Dana Simpson
- Sunny from Revolution (Series: The Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah Wiles
- Astrid from Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
- Lakshmi from Sold by Patricia McCormick
- Stargirl from Stargirl (Series: Stargirl) by Jerry Spinelli
- Tally Lo from Uglies (Series: Uglies) by Scott Westerfeld
- Lupita from Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
- Sal and Phoebe from Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
- Summer from Wonder (Series: Wonder) by R.J. Palacio
Who makes it on your list?
Come back next Friday to see my list of 25 boys who stand out.
71! How amazing to narrow it down. I tried to start listing and hit 25 very quickly but then as I added more, I would cross some off and star others and in the end it was a very messy page with scribbles and triple stars! I think it is so interesting to see which characters made it on to at least 2 of our lists or even three. Willow Chance and Sophie from Endangered! I also see some characters that you and Ricki included who I love – Lina from Between Shades of Grey and Katsa from Graceling. I love that you included Kate from Airborn! She almost made my list! How I loved that book. I read it aloud to my children. Adding Hurt Go Happy and Life in Outer Space to my TBR list. My reading is so shaped and connected to the titles that you and Ricki read. It is so wonderful to share recommendations back and forth! Thanks for writing these lists along with me!
Narrowing it down is was so hard!!! I just went through my Goodreads MG and YA shelves and wrote down any girl who stood out for me then narrowed it down from there. So tough!
I think it is interesting that a few crossed lists as well–shows how deeply they impact their reader.
Don’t you love Airborn?! Did you read the whole series?
Enjoy the books you read from the list–they are all special 🙂
And lastly:
Thank you for the inspiration!
ha ha funny – I had read 6 of Ricki’s choices and also 6 of yours, Kellee – I have some catching up to do!
I love that you both included Lina from Shades of Gray and Sophie from Endangered – two of my favorite books & favorite heroines. I was also glad to see Ally from Fish in a Tree on your list – I was so outraged by the way she was treated by teachers and school administrators and so awed by her courage!
Great list 🙂
Sue
Book By Book
Lina and Sophie are such amazing young women–no way I couldn’t include them.
I agree about Ally! I am so glad that Mr. Daniels and Ally met.