Feminist SF for YA (Liz Henry)

This list was originally drafted in the mid-1990s.

I am considering speculative fiction -- science fiction, and fantasy in the broad sense (ghost stories, etc.) -- appropriate for or intended for young people, that meets some of the following criteria:

• Strong female protagonist
• Gender-fair
• Sexuality or sexism is a theme

Links

• Zeen. By & for teenagers. Don't miss it!
• Young Adult Librarians Association
• Cyberkids book page
• Brave and Resourceful Girls in picture books (gopher)

Science fiction

• Betsy Byars; The Computer Nut.
• C.J. Cherryh --http://www.cherryh.com/
• Emily Devenport; Shade.
• Peter Dickinson; Eva.
• Madeline L'Engle A Wrinkle in Time; others.
• Nancy Etchemendy; The Watchers of Space, Stranger from the Stars, and The Crystal City. http://www.sff.net/people/etchemendy/
• Nancy Farmer; The Ear, The Eye and the Arm
• Helen Hoover
• Phyllis Gotlieb; Violent Stars
• Monica Hughes; Invitation to the Game. The Isis Trilogy.
• Diana Wynne Jones, Time City, others.
• Ursula K. Le Guin; Fisherman of the Inland Sea;
• Anne McCaffrey Dragonsong, Dragonsinger.
• Andre Norton Breed to Come, many others. See: About Andre (Alice Mary) Norton.
• Kenneth Oppel; Dead Water Zone.
• Doris Piserchia Star Rider, The Dimensioneers, Spaceling, others.
• Pamela Sargent The Watchstar, Earthseed
• Pamela F. Service, Stinker from Space, Stinker's Return
• Stephanie Spinner; Aliens for Dinner.
• Sydney Van Scyoc; Sunwaifs.

Fantasy

• Martine Bates, The Dragon's Tapestry.
• Francesca Lia Block, the Weetzie Bat stories; collected in Dangerous Angels
• Suzy McKee Charnas, The Bronze King, The Silver Glove, The Golden Thread. Excellent!! Tina's adventures in Central Park, in school, fighting monsters and threats to the universe; full of pleasingly odd people.
• Susan Cooper, The Grey King series
• Anne Downer, The Spellkey Trilogy (Baen, 1996): The Spellkey (1987), The Glass Salamander (1989), and The Books of the Keepers (1993).
• Luli Gray, Falcon's Egg. When Falcon finds a mysterious glowing egg in Central Park, she also finds herself entangled in a web of secrets.
• Mercedes Lackey
• Tamora Pierce, The Song of the Lioness Quartet (Alanna: the First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Lioness Rampant)
• Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass. Lyra's adventures in a parallel universe. Incredibly exciting. First in a series!
• Theresa Tomlinson, The Forestwife. About Maid Marion, as she runs away to Sherwood Forest.
• Margaret Storey, The Double Wizard, A Quarrel of Witches, others. Ellen and Timothy travel to the Open Country; magical adventures. I like how Ellen makes her magic wand look like a used-up old stub of pencil...
• Anne Turner, Elfsong.
• Patricia Wrede, Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons
• Jane Yolen, Sister Light, Sister Dark, Here There Be a Witch, The Ballad of the Pirate Queens; others...

Magic, Psychic Powers, Time Travel

• Lloyd Alexander, The Wizard in the Tree, The Arkadians; others.
• Alice Bartles, The Beast. Mythical ice creatures and a lost girl.
• Michael Bedard, A Darker Magic, Painted Devil. Emily and her niece, Alice, face down evil -- in the basement of the public library.
• Edward Eager, Half Magic, Knight's Castle. Girls and boys, great magic adventures.
• Lisa Fosburgh, Bella Arabella. A girl gets turned into her cat.
• Beatrice Gormley, Fifth Grade Magic
• Irene Haas, The Maggie B. Maggie's wish to be captain of a ship comes true.
• Welwyn Wilton Katz, Time Ghost. Sara, in the 21st century, at the North Pole.
• E. Nesbit, Three Children and It, The House of Arden; The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet
• Andre Norton, Octagon Magic, Lavender-Green Magic, and many others
• Pat O'Shea, The Hounds of the Morrigan. Brother and sister; witches on motorcycles; ancient Ireland.
• Richard Peck, The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp
• Mary Rodgers, Freaky Friday
• Zilpha Keatly Snyder, The Changeling
• Jyotsna Sreenivasan, The Moon Over Crete. Shallow, but nice, trip to
• John C. Walker, In Other Words. Disabled teenagers, telepathy, aliens. Shivery!
• Tim Wynne-Jones, Zoom Upstream. Zoom (a cat) and Maria travel back to ancient Egypt.
• Betty Wright, The Secret Window

Miscellaneous

• Lynn Abbey, Catwoman, Daughter of the Bright Moon.
• O.T. Nelson, The Girl Who Owned a City
• Meredith Ann Pierce, The Dark Angel Trilogy.
• Nancy Farmer, The Warm Place; Giraffe magic... chameleon magic...nasty evil demons.
• Mary-Joan Gerson, How Night Came from the Sea. Creation myth cycle from Brazil. Lemanj·, the sea goddess, had a daughter who married a son of the earth people and went to live in the in the land of daylight.
• Laurence Yep's work (no titles yet, sorry).
• Bedknob and Broomstick
• The Fledgeling
• Miranty and the Alchemist
• Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (Astrid Lindgren)
• Francesca Lia Block.
• Diane Duane, Support Your Local Wizard (SFBC omnibus edition 1990. Includes So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983); Deep Wizardry (1985); and High Wizardry (1990) and A Wizard Abroad
• Mary H. Herbert, Lightning's Daughter (female protagonist)
• Sylvia Louise Engdahl
• L. Dean James
• Ursula Le Guin
• Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown (female protagonist) and The Blue Sword (female protagonist)
• Zilpha Keatly Snyder, Below the Root series.
• Victoria Winter, The Winter of Enchantment
• Jane Yolen