! YA Heroines ! discussion

Here, at !YA Heroines! we are all about... you guessed it Heroines!

*Clears throat, looks upon crowd regally*

Our society believes that females are weak and need a hero. A man to take care of his lady.


*Crosses arms, stands taller, looks crowd in the eye.*

WELL NEWS FLASH PEOPLE !!! ... thats just a sterotype!
Todays girls, young ladies, and women are strong and entirely on par with males (If not physically than in intellect!). The sterotypical female is not an example of the whole female population. And YA Heroines are a great example of that. No, we won't sit down and be content with having children and completing house chores! Countless heroines in literature, history and daily life show that this sterotype is just a sterotype!

... So anyways that was my rant and partly why I enjoy reading about strong females in YA Lit.
This folder is dedicated to Heroines, so comment, debate and discuss!

My favourite heroine is Valkyrie cain out of skulldugery pleasant.

I'll make a thread for her.
And I totally agree! She is totally kick-butt. I can't wait for more from Derek Landy!

My favorite heroine is Calla Tor from the Nightshade series. She's a very strong, independent person who will do whatever she believes is right no matter what.

Calla is so kick-but and strong! I love the nightshade series! Go Shala!!! (I'm a shipper :) )

My favourite is Frost from FrostFire. I not only love her character, past and curse but I also love her image on the book cover.

The cover is simply stunning!

Chelsea wrote: "Here, at !YA Heroines! we are all about... you guessed it Heroines!

*Clears throat, looks upon crowd regally*

Our society believes that females are weak and need a hero. A man to take care of his..."

That is sad, but true. However, I like to break rules like that and have more than one strong female in every book.

:)

It's cool that I joined this group, right? Okay, I'd have to say Kristin Cashore can always right an aw-inspiringly tough heroine. Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue all have tough powerful leading ladies to carry the book.

It's great to see another fan of Ms. Cashore. I absolutely love her books!!!

I can't wait for her to write more. Also the book What I saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell remains as my favorite coming-of-age story.

I'm hoping she writes about Hanna in a 4th book! She'd be a great heroine.

has anyone read Leopard moon I'm not sure how long this book has been out but Kess is very strong and latter in the series another very strong female is brought in I liked these books they are shapeshifter if you like to read shapeshifter books I recommend this series

Leopard Moon by the way I think the first one is still free on amazon

I have only read the first two books so far I'm planning on finishing them as soon as I get a chance I think I'm reading four books right now

I read so much from one book and then another I usually don't do that but I am trying to catch up on some of my to read list

Elena from the 'Study series' by Maria V. Snyder.

Cashore's Graceling Realm is also great ;)

Jeanelle Angelline from the 'Black Jewels Trilogy' by Anne Bishop, though the male characters there are pretty tough, too.

Chelsea wrote: "Here, at !YA Heroines! we are all about... you guessed it Heroines!

*Clears throat, looks upon crowd regally*

Our society believes that females are weak and need a hero. A man to take care of his..."

Hi! Do you know Penryn Young from Angelfall? :)

Kirstin wrote: "Chelsea wrote: "Here, at !YA Heroines! we are all about... you guessed it Heroines!

*Clears throat, looks upon crowd regally*

Our society believes that females are weak and need a hero. A man to ..."

I have heard of Angelfall and it's on my ever growing To-read list but I plan on reading it sometime this year. :)

Just hopping by topics on my phone to draw attention . . .

Thirren from the cry of the icemark- great heroine strong but compassionate

The San Francisco Book Review just gave "Donor 23" a
5 out of 5 stars rating and commented on its heroine: "Donor 23 was very similar to Hunger Games. However, Donor 23 offered so much more. Joan, while mirroring Katniss Everdeen, was more her own person. Joan was intelligent, athletic, independent and determined. She was absolutely a heroine I could cheer for all the way."

Obviously Hermione Granger is the ultimate heroine. but if you're interested in a flawed character, a girl who has to balance leadership with a new love with a dark past, come discuss Lily at the Witch's BRew discussion (under book giveaways).

We still have open spots for the free books, and im really interested in how people react to flawed literture characters. Whether they make us become more attached to secondary characters, making us fall more in love with the book in general, or whether it alienates us.

I'd like to say that anything by Tamora Pierce is pretty much guaranteed to have a strong female protagonist.

I also adore Katniss, Katsa, Hermione, and some slightly less well-known new female leads. I never can be as interested in books told from a male perspective - outside of dear Mr. Harry Potter - and I wonder if that means I'm sexist?! ;)

Hermione is awesome. :) J.K.Rowling makes a lot of really strong characters you can't help but fall in love with. Ginny's really cool too.

This topic actually leads me to an interesting question and I hope this is the right place for it. My series is about a strong heroine...though she doesn't necessarily start out being able to wield a sword. She grows into it, gets rescued some along the way, and then learns to rescue herself. In reality, she'd have no reason to be kick-ass to start since she comes from a typical suburban household (unlike Katniss, who grew up with a bow in her hand), so I didn't think it made sense to throw her into an environment where she could fight without any prior knowledge...

I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are on those sorts of books. Do you like MC heroines who aren't weak, but aren't like Katniss to start? Do you like to watch them grow, too, or do you prefer them to kick butt from page 1?

I'd love to read the debate on this :)

oooh...that's such a good point. It does depend on a person's definition of a heroine too. While some consider physical attributes to be the needed characteristics, others think of mental acuity, leadership and the ability to change things to define heroics.
I really like how you put that!

Kristen wrote: "This topic actually leads me to an interesting question and I hope this is the right place for it. My series is about a strong heroine...though she doesn't necessarily start out being able to wield..."
Hi fellow PATEOD fan! I was just gonna say that Penryn Young has made the podium to my TOP YA KICKASS HEROINE list but you beat me to it!
For me, Penryn Young has to be one of the strongest female characters I've ever come across. She is funny, smart, resourceful, tough,fire-forged and of course, the Killer of Angels. She is a fighter and it feels weird that I have SO MUCH respect for a book character.
Other fav heroines are Hermione Granger (of course), Annabeth Chase (that girl is way too awesome), Susannah Simon (my first girl crush lol) and Ananna (she's a pirate, need I say more?)

Have any of you ever been told by other people "Girls can't do that, they're not as strong as boys"? And have any of you ever thought, "well, most boys couldn't do the things young heroes do in books, but I don't notice people complaining about that"? It really bugs me.

In reply to Kristen's question, I think it's great for heroines to develop - all my favourite Tamora Pierce heroines, like Alanna, Kel and Beka, learn throughout their stories, whether they come to us untrained or already knowing some fighting/survival.

Rose wrote: "Have any of you ever been told by other people "Girls can't do that, they're not as strong as boys"? And have any of you ever thought, "well, most boys couldn't do the things young heroes do in boo..."

Yes! The double standard drives me nuts.

I cant believe I've never read Tamora Pierce. It seems books are short on fully developing characters these days. She's going to the top of my list.

I think that great examples are -
*Hermione - Of course, I loved her since childhood.
*Rose (Vampire Academy) - She's so sassy and strong.
*Yelena (Poison Study) - She's independent, powerful magician, determined to do the right thing and don't need men to save her.
*Sydney (Bloodlines) - She's not physically strong, but she can take care of herself. She's smart, independent and she even attended self-defence class.
*Allison (Blood of Eden) - She can kick-ass. Survived a long time on street on her own.
*Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) - I think that she could be a great leader.

My main reason for creating the character Skye Roxy was to smash heroine stereotypes and give my daughter a character she could look up to and be inspired by. She’s highly trained because she took the time to learn her skills from those at the top of her field. She is always learning from those better than her. Despite her recklessness she exhibits bravery, fearlessness and courage. She’s strong in body and mind, and focuses on adventure and saving the world, rather than falling in love.