Girls on Fire

There are so many amazing female heroines in young adult literature right now. I really wish they had existed back when I was in high school.* Back then, I could have used someone to shake me and say, “Boys are not everything! Boys are not the goal! Also, they DO think you’re pretty and funny, so stop dressing like a lumberjack and writing cryptic poetry about them and just live your life!” But alas, I did not have that. So I dressed in lots of flannel and pined away for boys who did, in fact, like me, but they were in high school and probably didn’t want a girlfriend who dressed like a fisherman from the Pacific Northwest.

I digress. 

What I’m trying to say is, I think it is vitally important for young girls and young women to have empowering female role models in literature (and all media). When I come across an awesome female protagonist in my reading, I’ll make sure you know about her, a Girl on Fire.

Which brings me to the original Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games trilogy. She is brave, smart, witty, loyal, and she always thinks for herself. She does not allow herself to be defined by her relationships with men, or by the labels society has given her. I’ll write more about The Hunger Games in future posts, but want to give Katniss her due here. Thank you, Suzanne Collins, for writing such an empowering, brave character for girls to look up to.

Coming soon: actual book reviews!

*Note: I'm sure strong heroines did exist in publishing in the 90s; I just wasn't reading those books at the time. I was too busy watching Kids in the Hall reruns** and planning how to ask my crush(es) to prom.

**always a valuable use of time