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 Block, Francesca Lia. 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 D aughter (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