The B-List

Books are a means of relaxation and entertainment. Readers get satisfaction off of the stories that

come to life from a book’s pages, pulling them in as if they themselves are a part of that world. So

what better way is there to affirm just how versatile and strong women can be? Here a few books

that show strong female characteristics to be emulated.

The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling

A book series that can already be considered a classic, it tells the story of Harry Potter, boy wizard,

and his adventures with his friends Ron and Hermione. Harry’s parents were killed when he was a

baby and he grows up to find out that he is not only a wizard, but that he is also the chosen one to

defeat the dark wizard Voldemort.

Besides the story’s unique appeal, another one of these books’ assets are the strong female

characters in it. Let’s start with Hermione. She may have been a stereotypical geek, but she’s the

geek who saves the day with her wit and knowledge. And she isn’t just smart - she’s brave and

strong-willed too. That’s just Hermione. There’s Ginny Weasley too, who proved that she could

keep up with the boys may it be in sports or crazy missions. Professor McGonagall, who stands up

for the good of the Hogwarts family. Luna Lovegood, who is fearless in being herself and being in

the face of danger.

While it may seem that the Harry Potter books have a more masculine appeal, it really doesn’t.

There were enough personality traits that made each character stand out from one another

regardless of gender.

The Percy Jackson and The Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series, by Rick Riordan

The Percy Jackson series, as the name implies, follows the adventures of Percy Jackson, who is

not just any ordinary demigod, but is a son of Poseidon. The ultimate goal is to save Mt. Olympus

from the wrath of the Titans. The Heroes of Olympus series on the other hand, comes after Percy

Jackson, and focuses on seven demigods who were prophesied to be the ones who may or may

not save the world from Gaea, Mother Earth, herself.

Much like the Harry Potter books, the Percy Jackson series highlights the main protagonist of the

book while giving strong personalities its female characters as well. Annabel, daughter of Athena is

the total opposite of a damsel in distress. Living up to her mother’s name, she is smart, strategic,

and is interested in architecture too.

The Heroes of Olympus series gives more room strong characters, both male and female. Annabel

and Percy are there of course, but now joined with Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Frank. Hazel is a

daughter of Hades, who has strong special gifts that seem unlikely coming from a young and

innocent looking girl like her. Piper, on the other hand, is a daughter of Aphrodite. Though she

inherited her mother’s good looks and charm, she is quit-witted and is often the one who shows the

most concern to the other heroes. Even the antagonist in this series, Gaea, is a woman who is not

to be messed with.

If it’s adventure and a strong sense of character that you look for in a story, these ones are

definitely worth looking at.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This book is a memoir of the author’s life, and the struggles she and her family went through as

she was growing up. Imagine being dirt poor with parents who have personal issues, who tries

their best to give what the best they can to you, but have odd ways of doing so. That’s the gist of

the life she had.

Although the story gives more focus on family values and stubbornness in the face of despair, we

cannot take away the fact that this was written from the author’s point of view, a woman. She lived

through every hardship she wrote in that book, and came out as a successful journalist. She is

living proof that no matter where you came from and what you’ve been through, you can still

become the person you want to be.

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

Though it came out a few years back, this book is a prequel to the famed Sex and the City series.

It focuses on a young Carrie Bradshaw, on the verge of graduating high school, deciding what she

wants to do with her future. An aspiring writer, she struggles with going after her dreams while

trying not to upset her old-school father. Her love for New York City is evident even at a young age.

Her drive to become the writer she wants to be gets interrupted time by time by her then boyfriend

Sebastian Kidd, but in this way we see that she’s still a young girl who goes through the normal

stages in life like falling in love over the cutest guy in school. In the end though, she sees the

bigger picture and goes after what matters to her more.

While it may seem like a light read, it gives girls a sense of empowerment as it (not so) subtly hints

out that there more important things in life than cute boys and high school drama. Which, we all

honestly need to know, when we’re at that point in our lives.

The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot

An eleven-book series that chronicles the life of Mia Thermopolis, Princess of Genovia, as she

writes it in her diary. It’s honestly very personal, since it was written in a way that a real person

would write in a diary - raw, unfiltered, and messy. And when I say messy, I’m talking about the

character’s thought process. A person’s mind-clutter has never been so efficiently captured and

written.

While this series may seem “basic” a lot of the time, it really isn’t. We know that Mia Thermopolis is

this geeky teenager who happens to be a princess, has a crazy grandmother and very

unconventional parents, crushes on her best friend’s older brother, and has so many bodily

insecurities. But, she is a feminist. Or rather, a girl who subscribes to feminist values and is a

women’s empowerment advocate but doesn’t rob herself from experiencing the fun (or

excruciating) things a teenage girl does. She wants to donate to and volunteer for Greenpeace,

she cares very much for the well-being of everyone around her, and she stands up to those who do

others wrong, among other things.

Like the other books I have mentioned, Mia is also surrounded by strong female characters in her

life. Her mom Helen is a free-spirited painter who didn’t get married to her prince father cause she

didn’t want to conform to the standards of royalty. Her best friend Lily can almost be classified as a

radical feminist (or just radical, actually), with her outrageous ideas to get attention for what she

finds as noble causes.

Another thing I personally like about this series is how it follows Mia’s growth as a person too. The

tenth book ends at her high school graduation, while the eleventh starts on her life as a “working

girl” who is about to get married. She grows out of a lot of the petty things she worried about as a

teenager, but retains her over-analytical and do-gooder qualities that ultimately gets things done.

These books are definitely light reads. They’re also very funny. But don’t think that it’s full of non-

sense, cause it’s not.

#books