Top 7 YA Heroines
I like books which has lots of girls in them. That's just my personal choice. YA is one of those genres which is driven by a strong female following. Girls get a chance to shine in these novels, and female readers get to cheer them on. So it's no surprise I spend a lot of time thinking about my favourite YA heroines.
Here I've listed my top 10 YA heroines of all time. Of course, the list is not exhaustive by any means, because I am yet to read all the YA novels out there. But at the same time, I've read more YA than most people, so you can trust me.
So, we begin the countdown with number 7:
7. Sam
(Novel: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Author: Stephen Chbosky)
Sam is one of those girls who has made her mistakes and is now looking to start over, and that is very honorable in my eyes. We shouldn't let our past dictate who we will become, and Sam knows that. In spite of a trashed reputation, a history of molestation and a series of bad boyfriends, she proves herself by being a good friend and getting into a good college. Success isn't about achieving fame or money or anything like that. Sometimes it's about overcoming your circumstances and exceeding people's expectations. I think Sam did just that.
6. Juli Baker
(Novel: Flipped, Author: Wendelin van Draanen)
Remember when you were a kid and fell in like? Juli Baker could remind you. She's the kind of person who is so good at heart, she can't spot the darkness in people around her. The hilarious way in which she always assembles her thoughts to read 'Bryce Loski likes me', even when the opposite is true, had me rolling on the floor laughing. I think the fact that she keeps embarrassing herself is testament to what a lovely person she is, and like a lot of lovely people, she probably won't have her goodness recognized till she's out of high school. I wish more people were like Juli Baker (I also wish a boy would plant a sycamore tree for me, but that's another story.)
5. Katniss Everdeen
(Novel: the Hunger Games series, Author: Suzanne Collins)
4. Bridget, Carmen, Lena, Tibby
(Novel: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Author: Ann Brashares)
This series of novels was what got me hooked to YA in the first place. I think it was the realistic portrayal of four teenaged girls that drew me in. The four best friends had completely different set of challenges to overcome in each book, but I could relate to each and every one of them. Bridget's story mostly had to do with overcoming her mother's suicide. Carmen dealt with her parents' divorce and later with living in a blended family. Lena primarily had a love story. Tibby's story in the first book was about finding unlikely friendships and the sorrow of losing a true friend, and later she dealt with finding her identity. Not much happens in the books. Most of the paragraphs describe the characers' thoughts and my favorite are the ones in which they think of absolutely random things because I do that too. Also, I never can resist a story about female friendships, and this is by far the best such story I have read.
3. Elanor
(Novel: Elanor and Park, Author: Rainbow Rowell)
Okay, so she's a chubby little girl who's madly in love with her first boyfriend. She's one of those girls who pretends to be tough as nails and has had a hell of a life, but is sweet and adorably innocent on the inside. She's aware of her flaws, but she's not one of those girls who pretends to be surprised when someone calls her pretty. And the way she fears running out of time with Park? What makes Elanor number 3 on this list is that she's a real person, with real concerns and feelings and looks and goals, and the fact that she's flawed doesn't matter at all because that's what makes her who she is. As a girlfriend, she was simply adorable, especially the part where she picks up fights with Park just because she's bored. I think every boy should aspire for a girlfriend like Elanor and if they already have one, they should never let her go.
2. Hermione Granger
(Novel: the Harry Potter series, Author: J.K. Rowling)
Hermione has the capability for logical reasoning as well as strong emotional articulation. She's a girl, through and through. I was glad Rowling didn't turn her into some kind of tomboy with killer moves. Hermione made being a bookworm seem like a good thing, being a nerd seem cool and in spite of not being a conventional beauty, had one of the cutest romances in YA history. Her gender doesn't define her. She sucks at both quidditch and cooking. I think what really drew me to Hermione was the way she freaks out over marks and exams and all that and isn't afraid to show that she's tense about these things. A lot of girl don't want to let people know they're smart or serious, and I think those girls should learn something from Hermione.
(Okay, so I know a lot of people will have a problem with Hermione being no. 2. For all the Potter fans out there, she deserves to be No. 1 on any list. But bear with me. I couldn't give away number 1 to anybody except....)
1. Frankie Landeau Banks
(Novel: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau Banks, Author: E. Lockhart)
The reason Frankie is no. 1 on my list is because Frankie is me, with guts. All the thoughts in her head? I have the eact same thought wreaking havoc in my mind all the time. I share her questions about feminism and feminity, I have the same doubts regarding boyfriends as she does and throughout me life, I have searched for meaning in teenaged fun like her. She's one of those girls who goes to a party, looks around her at people having 'fun' and acting silly and says, "Why do they look so happy? Are they really happy?" Guess why I'm a no-show at parties. She doesn't lie to herself. She knows who she is, she knows who people want her to be and she resents her inconsequentiality. At the end of the day, Frankie is not a bad person. She's just a strong girl, something that is way more controversial in a teenager's world than we care to admit. She's my hero (I mean, bras on all the male founders' portraits? Seriously? I wish I had the guts to do that.) I know that she's a brilliant person, not just a brilliant girl, and if she were real, she would've gone on to do great things in her life.
(After writing this post, I realized how white it was. I mean, seriously! There are no colored faces on it. We need more books with women in color, especially in YA. Of course, there are such books in the market, but they are labelled 'multicultural' instead of blending with all the other YA novels, and to me, that's just unfair. I want to read novels about girls from various cultures, but not when their ethnicity/nationality/cultural background is treated as their only identity. Also, when will we have a full-fledged YA market in India? I think it's high time we started writing novels about our own culture, and that too for all demographics.)
Here I've listed my top 10 YA heroines of all time. Of course, the list is not exhaustive by any means, because I am yet to read all the YA novels out there. But at the same time, I've read more YA than most people, so you can trust me.
So, we begin the countdown with number 7:
7. Sam
(Novel: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Author: Stephen Chbosky)
 |
| Sam: Our past doesn't define who we are. |
6. Juli Baker
(Novel: Flipped, Author: Wendelin van Draanen)
Remember when you were a kid and fell in like? Juli Baker could remind you. She's the kind of person who is so good at heart, she can't spot the darkness in people around her. The hilarious way in which she always assembles her thoughts to read 'Bryce Loski likes me', even when the opposite is true, had me rolling on the floor laughing. I think the fact that she keeps embarrassing herself is testament to what a lovely person she is, and like a lot of lovely people, she probably won't have her goodness recognized till she's out of high school. I wish more people were like Juli Baker (I also wish a boy would plant a sycamore tree for me, but that's another story.)
5. Katniss Everdeen
(Novel: the Hunger Games series, Author: Suzanne Collins)
 |
| True Hero |
She's heroic, brave and the face of a revolution and how many people can truly say that. However, she's the heroine of a series about a tyrannical society in which a reality show is based on kids killing each other, so of coure, she's all that. What I like about her is that when she says that she doesn't want to lead a revolution, when she says she doesn't like cameras following her around, I believe her (unlike characters like Bella Swan, who seem to secretly enjoy being the centre of attention). She's a pragmatic young woman with a lot of weight on her shoulders and truly an inspiration to many.
(Novel: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Author: Ann Brashares)
This series of novels was what got me hooked to YA in the first place. I think it was the realistic portrayal of four teenaged girls that drew me in. The four best friends had completely different set of challenges to overcome in each book, but I could relate to each and every one of them. Bridget's story mostly had to do with overcoming her mother's suicide. Carmen dealt with her parents' divorce and later with living in a blended family. Lena primarily had a love story. Tibby's story in the first book was about finding unlikely friendships and the sorrow of losing a true friend, and later she dealt with finding her identity. Not much happens in the books. Most of the paragraphs describe the characers' thoughts and my favorite are the ones in which they think of absolutely random things because I do that too. Also, I never can resist a story about female friendships, and this is by far the best such story I have read.
3. Elanor
(Novel: Elanor and Park, Author: Rainbow Rowell)
 |
| If she were my girlfriend, I'd live for her too. |
Okay, so she's a chubby little girl who's madly in love with her first boyfriend. She's one of those girls who pretends to be tough as nails and has had a hell of a life, but is sweet and adorably innocent on the inside. She's aware of her flaws, but she's not one of those girls who pretends to be surprised when someone calls her pretty. And the way she fears running out of time with Park? What makes Elanor number 3 on this list is that she's a real person, with real concerns and feelings and looks and goals, and the fact that she's flawed doesn't matter at all because that's what makes her who she is. As a girlfriend, she was simply adorable, especially the part where she picks up fights with Park just because she's bored. I think every boy should aspire for a girlfriend like Elanor and if they already have one, they should never let her go.
2. Hermione Granger
(Novel: the Harry Potter series, Author: J.K. Rowling)
(Okay, so I know a lot of people will have a problem with Hermione being no. 2. For all the Potter fans out there, she deserves to be No. 1 on any list. But bear with me. I couldn't give away number 1 to anybody except....)
1. Frankie Landeau Banks
(Novel: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landeau Banks, Author: E. Lockhart)
 |
| We need more Frankie fan art ASAP |
The reason Frankie is no. 1 on my list is because Frankie is me, with guts. All the thoughts in her head? I have the eact same thought wreaking havoc in my mind all the time. I share her questions about feminism and feminity, I have the same doubts regarding boyfriends as she does and throughout me life, I have searched for meaning in teenaged fun like her. She's one of those girls who goes to a party, looks around her at people having 'fun' and acting silly and says, "Why do they look so happy? Are they really happy?" Guess why I'm a no-show at parties. She doesn't lie to herself. She knows who she is, she knows who people want her to be and she resents her inconsequentiality. At the end of the day, Frankie is not a bad person. She's just a strong girl, something that is way more controversial in a teenager's world than we care to admit. She's my hero (I mean, bras on all the male founders' portraits? Seriously? I wish I had the guts to do that.) I know that she's a brilliant person, not just a brilliant girl, and if she were real, she would've gone on to do great things in her life.
(After writing this post, I realized how white it was. I mean, seriously! There are no colored faces on it. We need more books with women in color, especially in YA. Of course, there are such books in the market, but they are labelled 'multicultural' instead of blending with all the other YA novels, and to me, that's just unfair. I want to read novels about girls from various cultures, but not when their ethnicity/nationality/cultural background is treated as their only identity. Also, when will we have a full-fledged YA market in India? I think it's high time we started writing novels about our own culture, and that too for all demographics.)
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