Fight Like A YA Girl

Thank you Jay for inviting me to share my responses to the prompts listed below. I loved being tagged but this was challenging for me because he didn’t just ask me to discuss characters from any of the hundreds of novels I’ve read. Instead, this is very specifically, about female characters from Young Adult literature, a genre I don’t read a lot of these days. But it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy so let’s see which girls I’ve read about that stand out in my memories.

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The Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you.
Mention the creator Krysti at YA and Wine
Match at least one YA girl with each of the themes below.
Tag as many people as you like!

1. WARRIOR GIRLS:

I guess the natural response here is Katniss (The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins).

2. GIRLS WHO FIGHT WITH THEIR MIND:

Sharzad, the teenaged bride in The Wrath And The Dawn (Renee Adieh) is one of the most clever heroines I’ve read recently because she used stories to save her life and the lives of who knows how many others.

3. GIRLS WHO FIGHT WITH THEIR HEART:

This prompt makes me think of Jude, the sister in Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun. She came off like a terrible sister in most of the story but when you understand her motivations, her actions become more acceptable, loving even.

4. GIRLS WHO ARE TRAINED FIGHTERS:

Again, Sharzad, from The Wrath and The Dawn, wasn’t just pretty and smart but a skilled archer also.
Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trained her whole life for her moment with President Coin.

5. STRONG GIRLS OF COLOR:

Natasha in Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also A Star is the first person I thought about here. While the female protagonists in YA books are often portrayed as being independent with nary a parental figure in sight, Natasha’s parents weren’t absent, just choosing to be impotent, and as a teenager, she was shouldering the responsibility for her future as well as that of her entire family. Kudos to her for doing that. And bonus points because she’s a Jamaican girl like me.

6. GIRLS WHO FIGHT TO SURVIVE:

Sharzad again. Failure would’ve meant death for her.
Eleanor (Eleanor & Park) could have been a victim but she fought to endure.
So did Mouse (The Problem With Forever /Jennifer L. Armentrout); Leisel (The Book Thief)

7. GIRLS WHO ARE WEAPONS MASTERS:

Katniss
Sharzad

8. GIRLS WHO DON’T CONFORM TO GENDER ROLES:

I have to mention Nancy Drew, the girl detective was quite an anomaly back when this series was first published in the 1930s. Today, we probably don’t regard this as highly but a big part of the reason Drew was so effective at her investigating was because the bad guys treated her like a doddering idiot, revealing all kinds of information around her because they thought that she couldn’t do anything about what they said.

9. GIRLS WITH KICK-BUTT MAGICAL POWERS:

I don’t believe in magic. I believe in the magic of hard work and I’ve seen a lot of women achieve impossible things through hard work. Does that count?

10. STRONG GIRLS IN CONTEMPORARY NOVELS:

I liked that Maddy (Everything, Everything – Nicola Yoon) was her own hero.

11. SERIOUSLY FIERCE GIRLS:

Leisel (Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief) embodies fierceness. She doesn’t start off that way but over the course of the story, as her character grows, she does some pretty strong things.
Mim (Mosquitoland – David Arnold) didn’t care what other people thought of her appearance. That’s always a good attitude to have.
I also remember admiring the Wakefield twins Elizabeth and Jessica (Sweet Valley High) for embracing their differences and using them to their advantage.

12. MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK WITH A STRONG LEADING LADY:

Sorry, I don’t read a lot of series these days. Moreover, I don’t research book synopses before reading them so unless I’ve read a story, I usually can’t comment on the characters but I do plan to read the sequel of The Wrath and The Dawn which I hope will feature more of Sharzad’s strength.