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Do our young heroines need more guts?

Imogen Russell Williams says in The Guardian that they do. She's bemoaning the fact that the female characters in modern-day children's books are a bit too prim and proper (Hermione Granger, anyone?) and wants us to have more heroines like Flossie Teacake (never read any) and Marmalade Atkins (who I LOVED!)

Girls who aren't afraid to get dirty, aren't watching their weight or bothered what other people think of them. Do you agree?

Who's your favourite children's book heroine?

Do our young heroines need more guts? - Comments

Marmite Breath

I LURVED Marmalade Atkins--the books and the telly series.

Shanna Swendson

Ditto on the Hermione love. She manages to be very much a girl without being a girly-girl obsessed with her looks, fashion and boys. She manages to hang out with boys and participate in all the save-the-world adventures without being a tomboy jock who doesn&#39t realize she&#39s a girl. And she manages to be incredibly smart, not at all ashamed of that fact, and yet not too stereotypically geeky.

While I did more than my fair share of Nancy Drew reading, I liked Trixie Belden better. She seemed more real.

Keris

I love Hermione too, actually. I kept thinking while reading the latest that she&#39s a very cool character. (I love that she quite often rescues the boys instead of being the one who&#39s always rescued.)

Enid Blyton has her faults, but I love Darryl in Malory Towers.

Gemma

I idolised Jo March, Jessica Wakefield and Stacey and Claudia from The Babysitters Club. So predictable!

Nina

Ironically, my favourite heroine is Hermione Granger! Yes, she’s proper and a bit of a goody goody at times, but still she is a very strong female character (and she does start the rebellion in OOTP)! She’s dead clever and stands her ground. And I think it’s a very good thing to show that being dedicated to school is a positive thing. Plus, in a book where the protagonist and most “major” characters are male it’s great to have a strong female voice among them.