8 Heroines That I Want My Daughter To Read

  Let me start this post by saying that I do not have any children. Unless we're counting the cat. But whenever I do have children, I will want them to love reading like I do. It's one of my hopes that my child will love the written word. I may already have a game plan of books I'm going to introduce them to at an early age to help the process along. One of the things that I want to ensure is that I introduce my daughter to an inspiring group of heroines. I want her to feel a connection to characters she loves and look up to them. I want her to find friends on the pages of books.

  So many female leads fall into a certain stereotype in fiction, especially young adult. You know the type I'm talking about. We all do. Sometimes, an author can break out of the mold with a character that defies the standards. You finish a book feeling like you've made a friend. This post is in honor of those characters. To the authors that write them, thank you.

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games Trilogy)

  Say what you will about The Hunger Games, but Katniss is my favorite young adult heroine. She stands for so much, and I hope that my daughter can take away from Katniss that you should always stand up for what you believe in. 

Éowyn (The Lord of the Rings)

  It's true that Arwen is my favorite female from Middle Earth, and we'll get to her in a moment. But what Éowyn did was remarkable. She proved that women are equal to men and that they can kick some serious Nazgûl ass.

Hermione Granger (The Harry Potter Series)

  Hermione taught us all that it's okay to be smart. There's nothing wrong with intelligence. And her sense of loyalty is admirable. What can I say? I love her!

Arwen Undómiel (The Lord of the Rings)

  Is it weird that I want my kid to know my fictional lady crush? Probably. But the sacrifice that Arwen makes for love always gets me. Whenever she sees the vision of her children playing with Aragorn, she knows that's what she's meant to do with her life. Her willingness to give up immortality for a mortal life with the man she loves and the chance to have children is touching.

Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre)

  Jane Eyre is a character that I've loved since a young age. She was one of the first characters that I bonded with and for good reason. There are so many good aspects to her personality, and I hope my daughter gets to discover them all just as I did.

Joss (The Survival Series)

This Indie series is one of my favorites, and Joss is a big reason for that. She's such a fighter. No matter what comes her way, she keeps pushing. I admire that so much.

Luna Lovegood (The Harry Potter Series)

As much as I love Hermione (and I really do!), I think Luna is my favorite female from Harry Potter. I love that she's okay with being herself. She doesn't give in to the pressure to be normal. It's refreshing to see that.

Sookie Stackhouse (The Southern Vampire Mysteries Series)

I feel like out of all of these, this was the one I hesitated the most on. And it goes without saying that my daughter will be way older before I let her read this series. But I love my kick-ass barmaid from Bon Temps. Sookie has overcome a lot in her life. Whenever a lot of us would have given up, Sookie kept going even if she could barely keep it together.
(And yes, that's Amber Heard. I don't care about True Blood. Anna Paquin will never be Sookie.)

So, what do you think? Which heroines will you encourage your daughters to read about?