Top Ten Kick-Ass Female Protagonists 2009

Everyone else seems to be making a list for the end of the year, if not the decade, so here's my top ten brave, resilient, strong and kick-ass female characters from my reading in 2009.

In no particular order:

1. Mia in If I Stay by Gayle Forman
2. Daisy in How I live Now by Meg Rosoff
3. Gemma in Stolen by Lucy Christopher
4. Kaitness in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
5. Miranda in Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pffefer
5. Micha in Liar by Justine Larbalestier
6.
Deryn in Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
7.Flavia in the Sweetness at The Bottom Of The Pie by Alan Bradley
8. Lisbeth in The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
9. Kate in What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
10.
Precious in Tea Time For The Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

So what do all these characters have in common? For me they have the ability to show female readers that girls can: survive, be active, find humour in adversity, show the boys a thing or two and importantly be strong and loving (often at the same time!)

I'm reading some adult stuff at the moment, Wolf Hall is keeping me pretty busy! And I'm off to beautiful Tasmania on Monday, but I'll be back soon with more reviews and hoots :)

All the best for all your reading in 2010,

Barking Owl

Hoot# 21 The Dead and the Gone

The Dead and the Gone (Moon Trilogy#2) by Susan Beth Pfeffer is the companion book to Life As We Knew It. It's not a sequel, because the events are concurrent; Pfeffer takes us back to the moon being struck by the asteroid, but this time the setting is New York.

Like Miranda in Moon#1, Alex is quite the self-centred teenager. He is vice-president of his class, has Georgetown college aspirations and dreams of being the first Puerto Rican President. The book deals a little with his feelings of being an outsider in his school . Alex has an older brother, Carlos, who is in the marines, and two sisters, Bri and Julie.

One theme which differs slightly from the first book is the approach to religion. While Miranda's family is not religious at all, Alex's family is Catholic. They rely on the church for their education and food, as well as for spiritual strength. That's not to say that there aren't crises of faith, but I think that is only natural when dealing with the end of the world.

The story is told in diary narration, and like the first novel has an unresolved ending- but apparently Alex and Miranda will reappear in the final of the trilogy, The World We Live In.

Some readers might find this depressing, or scary, or both. There is a particularly frightening food riot scene, and this being Manhattan, there are some nasty rat moments as well. For all of this, I think it might nudge some readers out of their complacency or greed- this can only be a good thing!

I only have one complaint about this series, they make me hungry! Not that I'm going to stockpile food or anything... but I have a better idea of what to do if there are prolonged power outages.

Happy tales,

Barking Owl