Global Girl Power
Katniss Everdeen of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy is just one recent example among many brave, inspiring female protagonists in young adult fiction. Today we extend our gaze across the globe to discover more of this same type of inspiring female protagonists from recent young adult books. These resilient young women stand up to the challenges of life and can remind the reader that we all have the might within ourselves to overcome and become anything.
1. Broken Moon by Kim Antieau
In a harrowing tale set in Pakistan, Nadira risks everything to save her younger brother—even disguising herself as a boy to chase the kidnappers.
2. Broken Memory: A Story of Rwanda by Elisabeth Combres, tr. Shelley Tanaka
To find healing, Emma must overcome her childhood memories of her mother's murder.
3. Escaping into the Night by D. Dina Friedman
Halina Rudowski flees to a secret underground forest encampment to escape the Nazis while her mother is left behind.
4. Small Damages by Beth Kephart
Sent to southern Spain because she wants to keep her unborn baby, Kenzie learns to appreciate the beauty around her.
5. The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird
Set in seventeenth-century Scotland, Maggie Blair is accused of witchcraft and must save her family from danger.
6. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
A humorous and poignant coming-of-age story, Josephine Alibrandi navigates her last year of high school in Australia.
7. Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji
Sabine’s life is forever changed when the Ugandan president decrees foreign Indians must leave the country.
8. Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
Asha Gupta seeks solace by writing in her diary to distract her from the family turmoil of living in Calcutta while awaiting news from her father in America.
9. Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy
Zulaikha hopes Afghanistan will be more peaceful now that the Taliban have left, and she even allows herself to dream of getting surgery for her cleft palate and going to school.
10. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
A postapocalyptic tale of Mary’s journey to find truth while dodging the Unconsecrated who roam the forest.
