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.

YES-- the Flavia books. Like Edward Gorey put into text form.

My DD is a huge fan of Flavia.

Thanks everyone, I am going to print out this list and take it to the library with us. My DD was devastated that the library was closed yesterday and is today as well. Many of these sound like wonderful options. I know I can always count on BTDT advice and suggestions from this board. There is nowhere else in our circle where I can share so much about my child and find that her interests and needs appear normal.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede are great also

My kids also liked Patricia Wrede. And Tamora Pierce has some strong female characters, too, and given your daughter's tastes they might appeal to her.

Is she old enough for "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" yet? Maybe a year away...

Matilda and The BFG by Roald Dahl

The Little House books

Understood Betsy

I'll try to think of more.

We did From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for the first time when DD was 6. She loved it and has returned to it a few times over the past couple of years. Good choice!

Oh, yes... Understood Betsy is a good one!

Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl is also a good one.

In a year or two some of the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey have strong female characters. And when my daughter was in third grade she read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King, so in another year or two you might introduce that one.

My daughter turned 7 on Sunday. She is on the same reading level as your daughter I think. Don't know if your school does AR, but she reads in a grade five to six, and completed first grade with 200 AR points. It left me wondering after first grade ended "where does she go now?" I really didn't want her finishing up all the best books before she even entered second grade.

Anyhow, this series has not been suggested and I think she might like it based in what you mentioned. Susan Wittig Albert has a series about Beatrice Potter that's very sweet, around grade 6 AR 13 points each. There are six of them I believe so far. I chose these for my daughter because she had read all Roald Dahl, all the Ramona books, the first three Potters, etc. my daughter likes a series book, and she doesn't like to be frightened.

There are some freebies on kindle that are really good, too. Around the same AR. "The princess and the goblin", "the princess and curdie", and mark twains granddaughter wrote a lovely book called "daddy long legs" that's also free on kindle.

Oh! And the Inkspell series. And wrinkle in time. And... And... I could go on and on like... Have you checked out this list? We have about half of these in ur library right now.
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/207315023/the-ultimate-backseat-bookshelf-100-must-reads-for-kids-9-14