Newsweek has honored Anne of Green Gables and her importance with this article on all the hoopla surrounding her 100th anniversary. (and don't forget Diane Rehm's discussion of the book tomorrow, 7/23, on her Reader's Review). But I must disagree with Ramin Setoodeh's contention that "it's rare to find a best seller with a strong heroine anymore," in YA literature. You can read my response to his article on the Newsweek site and I've also pasted it here.
"I agree that Anne is an amazing heroine and applaud her receiving so much coverage in Newsweek, and I also agree that there are many heroines from classic YA literature who should get more respect (most notably Maud Hart Lovelace's intelligent and independent aspiring writer Betsy Ray of the Betsy-Tacy series). But I strongly disagree that "it's rare to find a best seller with a strong heroine anymore." One look at the New York Times children's bestseller list from the past five or so years will reveal the following fantastic females: Louise Rennison's hilarious and indefatigable Georgia Nicolson who was first introduced in Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging; Ann Brashares' fast friends in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (which is popular enough to garner its second feature film adaptation next month); Meg Cabot's strong and smart Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries (also a successful film franchise) as well as her Allie Finkle from Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls; Cornelia Funke's Meggie from Inkheart; Gail Carson Levine's intrepid Ella Enchanted; and brave Liesel Meminger from Mark Zusak's The Book Thief, to name just a few."
Nice rebuttal, Book Club Girl!
Posted by: Lisamm | July 23, 2008 at 02:46 AM
Nice job. People who think there aren't strong heroines in YA literature just aren't looking hard enough.
Posted by: Julie E. | July 23, 2008 at 09:22 AM
I definitely agree with you on the Leisel Meminger character. She's amazing!
Posted by: Lisa | July 23, 2008 at 10:49 AM
This is a little off topic, but I thought the article about Stuart Little and the beginning of children's libraries in last week's New Yorker (of the infamous Obama cover) was really interesting.
Posted by: Kate | July 24, 2008 at 02:19 PM