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