Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Books with strong female characters for 7 year old

My DD who just turned 7 loves books like Guardians of GaHoole, Wolves of the Beyond, Cat Warriors, and just read the first Harry Potter book. I would like to find some books to suggest to her that have strong female characters and are complex, yet maybe a little less intense than some of these books. She likes a touch of the supernatural and anything to do with animals, but I am open to any type of suggestions. Oh, she found Harry Potter to be a very quick and easy read. I would like to avoid books with overt romantic interests. She has no interest in boys and I am happy keeping it that way for now!

The Disney fairies books are surprisingly good. For a little more complexity, you could try the Fairy Realm books.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is quite good, as is The Mysterious Benedict Society. I'm sure others will weigh in with more choices.

Take a look at the website "A Mighty Girl" (http://www.amightygirl.com/) for a huge collection of books, movies, and more featuring strong female characters.

thanks, she enjoyed the Disney Fairy and Fairy Realm books last year. I think she read most of them. I will check out your other two suggestions. The cats of Tanglewood Forest sounds like a great option, thanks. I will also look into the Mysterious Benedict Society.

They might be too easy, and we've not actually managed to read them yet, but have a look at "Tuesdays at te Castle" and "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making". I am hoping my 7 yr old will enjoy them.

Check out Kiki Strike. It's a favorite of mine for giving girls in her age range...

Also, did you know that the original Nancy Drew books were reworked in the 1950s (I believe) to make her less strong and to dumb down some of the language? You can tell the difference between the two versions because the older versions have 25 chapters vs. 20. I'm building a collection of these for my daughter and frequently find them at garage and library sales.

I would highly recommend the Sisters Grimm series. Very strong young female main character and incorporates every possible fairy tale character as modern day real life characters in the story. Also The Westing Game, the Penderwicks (there are several of these) and the All of a Kind Family series. I second the Mysterious Benedict Society - awesome for little gifties since the main characters are all pg kids. How about The Little House books? My DD enjoyed the first few in the Anna of Green Gables series but lost interest as Anne grew up, got married and had children.

Once she is ready, try Terry Pratchett- GrannyWeatherwax is a tough old bag indeed.

My dd7 just finished Matilda and it's now one of her favorites. She also liked The BFG by Roald Dahl.

She's also enjoyed The Penderwicks, The Secret Garden (took her a while to get into it, but once she was, she liked it), The Fire Within (a dragon series with a little girl in it), Charlotte's Web has a female spider (but consider The Trumpet of the Swan also, which is my dd's all-time favorite).

She's reading Because of Winn Dixie right now and is enjoying it.

I'm not sure if this would be a fit because it is a detective murder mystery type of book, but it does not have anything sexual or grotesque or explicit and it has a very gifted and strong female protagonist, so I'm going to put it out there anyway in case it is of interest: the Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.