Strong Female Characters in Young Adult Literature
Discover the most inspiring strong female characters in young adult literature. Explore empowering heroines who defy stereotypes and lead with courage in these must-read YA books.

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His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1)
by Philip Pullman
HIS DARK MATERIALS IS NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING DAFNE KEEN, RUTH WILSON, ANDREW SCOTT, AND LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA! The modern fantasy classic that Entertainment Weekly named an âAll-Time Greatest Novelâ and Newsweek hailed as a âTop 100 Book of All Time.â Philip Pullman takes readers to a world where humans have animal familiars and where parallel universes are within reach. Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal--including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want. But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other... A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. A #1 New York Times Bestseller Published in 40 Countries "Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years." âThe Washington Post "Very grand indeed."âThe New York Times "Pullman is quite possibly a genius." âNewsweek Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials! ** THE BOOK OF DUST ** La Belle Sauvage The Secret Commonwealth

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Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine
How can a fairy's blessing be such a curse? At her birth, Ella of Frell was given a foolish fairy's giftâthe "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. She goes on a quest, encountering ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, fairy godmothers, and handsome princes, determined to break the curseâand live happily ever after.

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A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
The first book in the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Gemma Doyle trilogy, the exhilarating and haunting saga from the author of The Diviners series and Under the Same Stars. Itâs 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemmaâs reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, sheâs been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spenceâs most powerful girlsâand their foray into the spiritual worldâlead to? âA delicious, elegant gothic.ââPW, Starred âShivery with both passion and terror.ââKirkus Reviews "Compulsively readable." --VOYA A New York Times Bestseller A Publishers Weekly Bestseller A Book Sense Bestseller BBYA (ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults) Iowa High School Book Award Garden State Teen Book Award Pennsylvania Young Readerâs Choice Award




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Poison Study
by Maria V. Snyder
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace- and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's DustĂ© and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison. As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clearâ.

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The Cry of the Icemark
by Stuart Hill
Thirrin must defend her country with the help of a son of a witch and her great strength and courage.

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Vampire Academy
by Richelle Mead
âWeâre suckers for it.â â Entertainment Weekly Join the legion of fans who skyrocketed this six-book series to the top of the charts. Start here, with the first book that kicked off the international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series. Adapted into an original TV series streaming on Peacock! Love and loyalty run deeper than blood. St. Vladimirâs Academy isnât just any boarding schoolâitâs a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. Theyâve been on the run, but now theyâre being dragged back to St. Vladimirâsâthe very place where theyâre most in danger. . . . Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academyâs ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoiâthe worldâs fiercest and most dangerous vampiresâmake Lissa one of them forever.

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Witch Child
by Celia Rees
The year is 1659, a time of fear and lies. For Mary Newbury, it is a time of desperation. While she watches, unable to intervene, her wise and beloved grandmother is falsely condemned, tortured, and hanged as a witch. Soon the relentless crowd may turn upon Mary. When a mysterious stranger offers her a way out -- safe passage to America -- she knows she must go. But she doesn't know that the turbulent voyage will bring her to yet another society where differences are feared and defiance is deadly. p(No Canadian Rights)


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Feeling Sorry for Celia
by Jaclyn Moriarty
An epistolary novel uses letters written between teenage friends, refrigerator notes from a crazy mother, and epistles that express the narrator's own internal feelings of self-doubt to weave this bittersweet coming of age story.

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Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
"How about a story? Spin us a yarn." Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned. "Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!" And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother. In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

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Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson's award-winning, highly acclaimed, and controversial novel about a teenager who chooses not to speak rather than to give voice to what really happened to her marks ten years in print with this special anniversary edition. Bonus material created for this edition includes a new introduction and afterword from the author, resources, and discussion guide. Will also include a preview of Anderson's newest book, Wintergirls. The quintessential edition for all fans of this powerfully moving book.
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Flipped
by Wendelin Van Draanen
A classic he-said-she-said romantic comedy! This updated anniversary edition offers story-behind-the-story revelations from author Wendelin Van Draanen. The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. Juli says: âMy Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.â He says: âItâs been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.â But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down: just as Bryce is thinking that thereâs maybe more to Juli than meets the eye, sheâs thinking that heâs not quite all he seemed. This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny voices. The updated anniversary edition contains 32 pages of extra backmatter: essays from Wendelin Van Draanen on her sources of inspiration, on the making of the movie of Flipped, on why sheâll never write a sequel, and a selection of the amazing fan mail sheâs received. Awards and accolades for Flipped: SLJ Top 100 Childrenâs Novels of all time IRA-CBC Childrenâs Choice IRA Teacherâs Choice Honor winner, Judy Lopez Memorial Award/WNBA Winner of the California Young Reader Medal âWe flipped over this fantastic book, its gutsy girl Juli and its wise, wonderful ending.â â The Chicago Tribune âVan Draanen has another winner in this eighth-grade âhe-said, she-saidâ romance. A fast, funny, egg-cellent winner.â â SLJ, Starred review âWith a charismatic leading lady kids will flip over, a compelling dynamic between the two narrators and a resonant ending, this novel is a great deal larger than the sum of its parts.â âPublishers Weekly, Starred review
