This post is part of our International Women’s Day celebration. See all the posts here.
Some of the wisest people I know I met from children’s books, particularly from middle grade books (stories geared toward eight-to-twelve year olds, but they are great for adults too!). Ever since I could read, I have stored treasures of wisdom from so many amazing girls who stood up for themselves, overcame overwhelming challenges, made mistakes and made things right again, were wronged and extended grace, fell down and got back up, and stood by their convictions despite persecution. You can say that even now, everything I need to know about life I learned from the girls in middle grade books.
Here are fifty of my absolute favorite heroines from middle grade books, why I love them, and some of my favorite quotes from the books. These kids unabashedly declare that girls are amazing and are forces to be reckoned with. If my own daughters read through this whole list, I will consider my work as a mom done!
YOUNGER MIDDLE GRADE (8-10 year olds and beyond!)
Mya Tibbs from The Magnificent Mya Tibbs, Spirit Week Showdown by Crystal Allen
Nine-year-old Mya Tibbs is boot-scootin’ excited for the best week of the whole school year—SPIRIT WEEK! She and her megapopular best friend, Naomi Jackson, even made a pinky promise to be Spirit Week partners so they can win the big prize: special VIP tickets to the Fall Festival! But when the partner picking goes horribly wrong, Mya gets paired with Mean Connie Tate—the biggest bully in school. And she can’t get out of it.
Why I love Mya Tibbs: She’s plucky and spirited and follows her instincts to do what’s right, even when it means risking the things that are important to her.
Anna Wang from The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng
In Chinese, peng you means friend. But in any language, all Anna knows for certain is that friendship is complicated. When Anna needs company, she turns to her books. Whether traveling through A Wrinkle in Time, or peering over My Side of the Mountain, books provide what real life cannot—constant companionship and insight into her changing world. Books, however, can’t tell Anna how to find a true friend.
Why I love Anna: She’s a huge reader and reminds me a lot of what I was like as a child. I love how she embraces her own self over the course of the story.
Ava Wren from Ava and Pip (series) by Carol Weston
Meet outgoing Ava Wren, a fun fifth grader who tries not to lose patience with her shy big sister. When Pip’s 13th birthday party turns into a disaster, Ava gets a story idea for a library contest. But uh-oh, Ava should never have written “Sting of the Queen Bee.” Can Ava and her new friend help Pip come out of her shell? And can Ava get out of the mess she has made?
Why I love Ava: She’s smart, she’s silly, and she’s a problem solver. I love her obsession with palindromes!
Favorite Quote: “If you won’t be you…who will?”
Ruby from Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea by Anna Humphrey
Ten-year-old Ruby Goldberg is determined to win her school science fair and beat her nemesis Dominic Robinson. She’s snagged second place for the last two years, and she’s set on claiming first prize. The only trouble is that Ruby has no ideas. When her grandfather’s beloved basset hound dies, Ruby thinks of the perfect thing that will cheer him up and win her first place—an innovative, state-of-the-art, not-to-be-duplicated Ruby Goldberg invention!
Why I love Ruby: She’s full of ideas, always thinking of creative solutions to problems, and she loves her grandfather to bits.
Theodora (Theo) Tenpenny from Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
When Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance masterpiece underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: Theo’s grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she worries the painting may be stolen.
Why I love Theo: She has such affection for her home and neighborhood, and she’s an amazing problem solver when the building she lives in begins to fall apart.
Manami from Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban
Ten-year-old Manami did not realize how peaceful her family’s life on Bainbridge Island was until the day it all changed. It’s 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Manami and her family are Japanese American, which means that the government says they must leave their home by the sea and join other Japanese Americans at a prison camp in the desert. Manami is sad to go, but even worse is that they are going to have to give her and her grandfather’s dog, Yujiin, to a neighbor to take care of. Manami decides to sneak Yujiin under her coat and gets as far as the mainland before she is caught and forced to abandon Yujiin. She and her grandfather are devastated, but Manami clings to the hope that somehow Yujiin will find his way to the camp and make her family whole again. It isn’t until she finds a way to let go of her guilt that Manami can reclaim the piece of herself that she left behind and accept all that has happened to her family.
Why I love Manami: She’s extremely loyal and is true to herself and her family.
Astrid from Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
For most of her twelve years, Astrid has done everything with her best friend Nicole. But after Astrid falls in love with roller derby and signs up for derby camp, Nicole decides to go to dance camp instead. And so begins the most difficult summer of Astrid’s life as she struggles to keep up with the older girls at camp, hang on to the friend she feels slipping away, and cautiously embark on a new friendship. As the end of summer nears and her first roller derby bout (and junior high!) draws closer, Astrid realizes that maybe she is strong enough to handle the bout, a lost friendship, and middle school… in short, strong enough to be a roller girl.
Why I Love Astrid: She always gets up when she falls down! Plus – she’s into roller derby.
Raina from Smile by Raina Telgemeier
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there’s still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.
Why I Love Raina: She’s hilarious and endearing and so very relatable.
Rose Howard from Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Rose Howard is obsessed with homonyms. She’s thrilled that her own name is a homonym, and she purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose’s rules of homonyms, is very special. Not everyone understands Rose’s obsessions, her rules, and the other things that make her different – not her teachers, not other kids, and not her single father. When a storm hits their rural town, rivers overflow, the roads are flooded, and Rain goes missing. Rose’s father shouldn’t have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search.
Why I love Rose: She has a plan and she executes it despite the odds. She does the right thing even at the expense of her own desires.
Favorite Quote: “Everyone calls me brave. Is this what bravery feels like?”
Cece from El Deafo by Cece Bell
Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful—and very awkward—hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear—sometimes things she shouldn’t—but also isolates her from her classmates. She really just wants to fit in and find a true friend, someone who appreciates her as she is. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become “El Deafo, Listener for All.” And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she’s longed for.
Why I love Cece: She’s finds joy and humor in every circumstance.
Favorite Quote: “Oh, why do I even care what other people think?”
Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
When the Cuthberts send to an orphanage for a boy to help them at Green Gables, their farm in Canada, they are astonished when a talkative little girl steps off the train. Anne, red-headed, pugnacious and incurably romantic, causes chaos at Green Gables and in the village.
Why I love Anne: Her verbosity, her quickness of temper, and her big dreams never cease to amaze me.
Favorite Quote: “Oh, it’s delightful to have ambitions. I’m so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them– that’s the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”
Lucky from The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
Lucky, age ten, can’t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. It’s all Brigitte’s fault–for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she’ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won’t be allowed. She’ll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she’ll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own–and quick.
Why I love Lucky: She’s funny and loyal and follows her heart.
Favorite Quote: “It made her feel discouraged, like if you took the word apart into two sections of dis and couraged. It was getting harder and harder to stay couraged.”
Mona Melendy from The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
Meet the Melendys! The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There’s thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-and-a-half-year-old Randy, who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six. Tired of wasting Saturdays doing nothing but wishing for larger allowances, the four Melendys jump at Randy’s idea to start the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.). If they pool their resources and take turns spending the whole amount, they can each have at least one memorable Saturday afternoon of their own. Before long, I.S.A.A.C. is in operation and every Saturday is definitely one to remember.
Why I love Mona: She had the perfect idea for what she wanted to do on her Saturday, and if I were in her shoes I would choose the exact same excursion.
Matilda Wormwood from Matilda by Roald Dahl
Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she’s just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It’ll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!
Why I love Matilda: She’s small but she’s powerful!
Favorite Quote: “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
Sara Crewe from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Alone in a new country, wealthy Sara Crewe tries to settle in and make friends at boarding school. But when she learns that she’ll never see her beloved father gain, her life is turned upside down. Transformed from princess to pauper, she must swap dancing lessons and luxury for hard work and a room in the attic. Will she find that kindness and generosity are all the riches she truly needs?
Why I love Sara: She never stops caring for others even when she loses everything.
Favorite Quote: “If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that–warm things, kind things, sweet things–help and comfort and laughter–and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder from The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Set during the pioneer days of the late 1800s and early 1900s, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books chronicle her life growing up on the Western frontier.
Why I love Laura: She’s impulsive and brave and unabashedly herself.
Favorite Quote: “She thought to herself, “This is now.” She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.”
Ramona Quimby from the Ramona series by Bevely Cleary
Kids everywhere feel connected to Ramona’s unique way of looking at the world as she tries to adjust to new teachers, feels jealous about Susan’s curls, and is secretly pleased by Yard Ape’s teasing. The scrapes she gets herself into—like wearing pajamas to school or accidentally making egg yolk shampoo—are funny and heartwarming, and sometimes embarrassing. No matter what—Ramona’s lively, curious spirit shines through.
Why I love Ramona: How could you not love her? She’s her own person and doesn’t care who knows it.
Favorite Quote: “She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.”
Pippi from Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a flair for the outrageous that seems to lead to one adventure after another!
Why I love Pippi: She’s outrageous, independent, and fun.
Favorite Quote: “Don’t you worry about me. I’ll always come out on top.”
Gilly Hopkins from The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she’s disliked them all. She has a county-wide reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmanageable. So when she’s sent to live with the Trotters — by far the strangest family yet — Gilly decides to put her sharp mind to work. Before long she’s devised an elaborate scheme to get her real mother to come rescue her. But the rescue doesn’t work out, and the great Gilly Hopkins is left thinking that maybe life with the Trotters wasn’t so bad…
Why I love Gilly: She’s off the wall but she gets the job done!
Favorite Quote: “It seemed to Gilly that everything in this world that you can’t stand to wait one extra minute for is always late.”
Ada from The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
Why I love Ada: She never stops believing in her own worth and ability and demands the respect she deserves.
Favorite Quote: “It had been awful, but I hadn’t quit. I had persisted. In battle I had won.”
OLDER MIDDLE GRADE (10-12 years old – and beyond!)
Francie Nolan from A Tree Grow in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness — in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.
Why I love Francie: She’s a huge reader (she wanted to read every single book in the library!), and she fights for a great education.
Favorite Quote: “Dear God,” she prayed, “let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry…have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere – be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”
Zomorod (Cindy) from It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas (Clarion Books, May 3, 2016)
Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block . . . for the fourth time. California’s Newport Beach is her family’s latest perch, and she’s determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name—Cindy. It’s the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even mood rings and puka shell necklaces can’t distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home.
Why I love Zomorod (Cindy): She’s unbelievably hilarious, honest, and loyal to her culture.
Annemarie Johansen from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
As the German troops begin their campaign to “relocate” all the Jews of Denmark, Annemarie Johansen’s family takes in Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her as part of the family. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Annemarie, we watch as the Danish Resistance smuggles almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark, nearly seven thousand people, across the sea to Sweden. The heroism of an entire nation reminds us that there was pride and human decency in the world even during a time of terror and war.
Why I love Annemarie: She finds the courage to save her friends and family during a time of tremendous danger.
Favorite Quote: “Ellen had said that her mother was frightened of the ocean, that it was too cold and too big. The sky was, too, thought Annemarie. The whole world was: too cold, too big. And too cruel.”
Ally from Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
Why I love Ally: She has a electric personality that draws people to her even as she struggles to believe in herself.
Favorite Quote: “But what really gets me is that in order for Mr. Daniels to come up with this plan, he must have thought of me outside of school—when he didn’t have to think of me. I bet other teachers have never let me sit in their head one second longer than they had to.”
Mia Winchell in A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Mia Winchell has synesthesia, the mingling of perceptions whereby a person can see sounds, smell colors, or taste shapes. Forced to reveal her condition, she must look to herself to develop an understanding and appreciation of her gift in this coming-of-age novel.
Why I love Mia: She has a creative and seeking soul.
Favorite Quote: “I’m going to be so normal that when people look up normal in the dictionary, my name will be there.”
Nya from A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.
Why I love Nya: She is brave and thoughtful and loyal and generous.
Favorite Quote: “One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.”
Melody from Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
Why I love Melody: She never stops learning and believing in herself even when no one believes in her.
Favorite Quote: “Thoughts need words. Words need a voice.”
Claudia Kishi from The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin
Kristy and her friends all love taking care of kids, so starting a club is clearly a fantastic idea! They’ll have fun and make money–but no one counted on prank phone calls, wild toddlers, and out-of-control pets.
Why I love Claudia: She had her own unique style and an artists’ soul. She has always been my favorite from the BSC.
Izzy from Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
When twelve-year-old Izzy spends the summer in her Nana’s remote New Mexico village, she discovers long-buried secrets that come alive in an enchanted landscape of majestic mountains, whispering winds, and tortilla suns. Infused with the flavor of the southwest and sprinkled with just a pinch of magic, readers are sure to find this heartfelt story as rich and satisfying as Nana’s homemade enchiladas.
Why I love Izzy: She’s brimming with curiosity and opens her heart to her native culture and family.
Wilhelmina (Will) Silver from Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell
Wilhelmina Silver’s world is golden. Living half-wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult. Lions and hyenas are nothing compared to packs of vicious schoolgirls. Where can a girl run to in London? And will she have the courage to survive?
Why I love Will: She’s completely fearless! I love her independent spirit; anyone who can spend the night at a zoo and make friends with the animals is awesome in my book.
Malala from I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her to survive. Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which has been reimagined specifically for a younger audience and includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world — and did.
Why I love Malala: She has an inner strength that I hope to find in my own life one day.
Favorite Quote: “Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
Hà from Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Hà has only ever known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope—toward America.
Why I love Hà: She perseveres through so much hardship, including war, starvation, bullying, and homesickness. She’s powerful through her ability to transcend cruelty.
Favorite Quote: “Mother says, / People share / when they know they have escaped hunger. / Shouldn’t people share / because there is hunger?”
Stella from Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
Stella lives in the segregated South—in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn’t bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella’s community—her world—is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end.
Why I love Stella: Her mind never stops processing how to keep her family and community safe. She takes a risk to write down her feelings and experiences even though she doesn’t think she’ll be any good at it.
Favorite Quote: “Words fall out of the sky like leaves, girl. Grab a couple and write ’em down.”
Lizzie Bright from Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
It only takes a few hours for Turner Buckminster to start hating Phippsburg, Maine. No one in town will let him forget that he’s a minister’s son, even if he doesn’t act like one. But then he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a smart and sassy girl from a poor nearby island community founded by former slaves. Despite his father’s-and the town’s-disapproval of their friendship, Turner spends time with Lizzie, and it opens up a whole new world to him, filled with the mystery and wonder of Maine’s rocky coast. The two soon discover that the town elders, along with Turner’s father, want to force the people to leave Lizzie’s island so that Phippsburg can start a lucrative tourist trade there. Turner gets caught up in a spiral of disasters that alter his life-but also lead him to new levels of acceptance and maturity. This sensitively written historical novel, based on the true story of a community’s destruction, highlights a unique friendship during a time of change.
Why I love Lizzie: She’s devoted to her family and her land, and she’s unafraid of and stands up to the people who spread hate and discord in her community.
Favorite Quote: “Lizzie Bright Griffin, do you ever wish the world would just go ahead and swallow you whole?”
“Sometimes I do,” she said, and then smiled. “but sometimes I figure I should just go ahead and swallow it.”
Julie from Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
To her small Eskimo village, she is known as Miyax; to her friend in San Francisco, she is Julie. When her life in the village becomes dangerous, Miyax runs away, only to find herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness. Miyax tries to survive by copying the ways of a pack of wolves and soon grows to love her new wolf family. Life in the wilderness is a struggle, but when she finds her way back to civilization, Miyax is torn between her old and new lives. Is she Miyax of the Eskimos—or Julie of the wolves?
Why I loved Miyax: She is proud of her native culture and does everything she can to preserve it.
Sammy from the Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin Van Draanen
What Sammy should have done was put the binoculars down and call 911. What she does instead is tighten up the focus on her right eye to get a better look. There’s something very familiar about this thief. But when Sammy eventually spills her story to Officer Borsch, he doesn’t believe her. He treats her like some snot-nosed little kid. Well, Sammy’s not going to stand for that. She’s a snot-nosed seventh grader now, and she knows what she saw. And somehow she’s going to prove it.
Why I Love Sammy: She’s irreligious and always getting in trouble. No one believes her when she comes up with her crazy theories, but she’s usually right.
Claudia Kincaid from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere–to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can help her with the serious cash flow problem she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie, find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at an auction for a bargain price of $250. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it? Claudia is determined to find out. This quest leads Claudia to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.
Why I love Claudia: She’s brave enough to run away from home and move into a museum! Plus her money making skills are top notch.
Favorite Quote: “Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. That is, running away in the heat of anger with a knapsack on her pack. She didn’t like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes. Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere.”
Summer from The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata
Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan–right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother are left in the care of their grandparents — Obaachan and Jiichan — who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and betwe