Great Pre- and Post- Hermione Granger YA Heroines. We are living in a post- Hermione world. Hermione Granger is often the gold standard to which any subsequent heroines in children’s or YA literature are held. This is not a bad thing! Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, after all. She was actively instrumental in not only saving the Wizarding World as we know it, but also in keeping Harry alive long enough to get to the point that he could even think about facing Voldemort. Hermione punched Draco Malfoy, figured out Polyjuice Potion, and refused to wait around for her crush to pull his head out of his butt and got herself a date to the dance all on her own. Hermione was not too perfect. Heck, being on the Honor Roll went to my head pretty hard as a junior high kid, so I understand those feels! Hermione used a time- travel device and didn’t screw it up. She didn’t abandon Harry when the going got rough, she didn’t hold Ron’s temporary abandonment against him for too long, and. That’s a hell of a track record right there, and a lot. Some people are glad, others feel that “strong” is too masculinized. It’s a good thing that there are a lot of different ways to be strong, right? My own interpretation of what it really means to present “strong female characters” is that the characters are written as people with faults, strengths, and their own. Rowling wrote Hermione leaves us with a clear idea of what Hermione might like and dislike about a given situation. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) cast and crew credits. D13 Systems Operator #3 Jordan Woods-Robinson. Custom made Katniss Everdeen girl on fire hunger games red. Work lace into your wardrobe with this Manon Lace Top. Material : Main: 65% Nylon, 35% Viscose. Neckline : Round Neck. Sleeve : Long Sleeve. Teen Writers Bloc A Blog by the New School Writing for Children MFA Class of 2012. Author Interviews; Book Biz Buzz; Books We Love; Contests; Events And Readings; Featured; Guest Bloggers; Question of the Month; REVIEWS; The. This troper realized that the Hunger Games are an empty threat. Headscratchers / The Hunger Games . Main; Analysis; Awesome; Characters; FanficRecs; FanWorks; Film; Fridge. Katniss has (16-11)*(3+1) = 20. The AXS Cookie Policy. This website, like most others, uses cookies in order to give you a great online experience. By continuing to use our website you accept to our use of cookies. Alternatively, you can find out more about. Jennifer Lawrence is ruling herself out of starring in a prequel to the Hunger Games franchise, insisting it is “too soon” to expand the movie series. The Silver Linings Playbook actress starred as Katniss Everdeen in four. A poll of the most memorable heroes and villains in children’s books has seen female characters dominate the lists. Women make up six of the top 10 The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery which was one of the main reasons why the. We know that Hermione hates injustice; she created S. P. E. W. We know that Hermione is trustworthy; Mc. Gonagall trusted her with a Time Turner. We also know that, especially in her younger years, Hermione could get a little bit judgmental about the study habits and proclivities of others and had difficulty allowing others a chance to shine in the classroom. In short, the author made a character who seems like an actual human being. Hermione isn’t a warrior, not really. She fights because she believes it to be necessary. The strength of her character is not in her ability to lift cars and throw them at the faces of bad guys. It is in her appeal to all of the Hermiones of the world! Just because I consider Hermione to be my Gold Standard Heroine should not negate the efforts of her predecessors, nor should it mean that every subsequent heroine should be a Hermione knock- off. Human beings are famous for the having of differences, quirks, personality issues, strengths, weaknesses, and personal hurdles to jump to become the individuals we are meant to be. Without further exposition, here are some of my top favorite YA/Children’s book heroines, in no particular order. The March Sisters and Marmee – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. So, my Library Science flag (do we have a flag?) is flying high with this article! I learned in one of my classes that one of the first novels considered to be Young Adult and written for young women was Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott in 1. She published it in two parts and wrote it fairly rapidly after the first part was wildly successful. If you have never read Little Women, I recommend it. Each woman has her own personality and interests: Meg, the eldest, is very practical, ladylike, and calm; Jo is wildly intelligent and bristles at the limitations placed on her by her gender; Beth is gentle, sweet, musical, and a natural peacemaker, and Amy is emotional and artistically inclined; their mother works tirelessly to aid wounded soldiers and care for her girls, and Jo helps to support her family with her writing, teaching, and caring for a cranky old misanthrope of an aunt. For me, this book was an excellent early study in creating female characters who are the focus of the story, each strong and weak in different areas of life and always able to rely on the other women in their family for support and love. She’s probably intended to be the favorite, but let’s take a moment to appreciate a book written for young women by a woman in the 1. Jo March, I loved you when I met you, and I love you today. Have a look at this clip from Friends. Little Women is Rachel’s favorite book, and Joey is reading it: 2.) Emily Starr – Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery. I loved Anne of Green Gables. Montgomery’s Heroines of Places books. Where Anne was upbeat and imaginative, Emily was chill and dreamy. Where Anne was the embodiment of “the plucky orphan,” Emily was orphaned and pissed about it. Despite their differences, I feel like if they had met, they would have gotten along well. Emily was prone to bouts of overly dramatic teen angst and soldiered through it with frank acceptance. If Emily had had the Internet, she would have been a quirky, unapologetic Tumblr girl, I’m certain. I’m not entirely sure she wouldn’t have “shipped” Teddy and Perry, given half a chance. Emily’s strength of character is in her determination to write and find ways to achieve her goals despite her stern Aunt Elizabeth’s disapproval of her craft. Where there is a will, there is a way, and Emily Starr was skilled in finding that way to express herself unashamedly. If Emily were a real person and lived in today’s society, she would have been the reigning queen of Ao. Tumblr, I’m pretty darn sure. Dicey Tillerman – Homecoming and Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt. I think I read these books for the first time when I was in the 6th grade, and even then I was struck by Dicey Tillerman’s practicality and determination. She was only thirteen years old when her mother abandoned her and her siblings in a mall parking lot, and she budgeted, worked, and walked their way to find distant family members. She couldn’t just Google her aunt and then her estranged grandmother and GPS their addresses; she had to research, find them, and navigate, all while keeping her younger siblings alive, healthy, and reasonably distracted from the seriousness of their situation. Dicey was a different kind of heroine than I was used to. The Tillerman books are not fantasy and have no magic or science fiction in them. I usually gravitate toward genre fiction, but Voight’s excellent character and world building skills saw me hooked on the Tillermans. Dicey didn’t care about her appearance. Dicey’s heroism was in her care for her siblings, her incredible intelligence in tracking down family members she had never even met before, and in defeating the everyday monsters of hunger, poverty, mental illness, and in learning to trust others. Trixie Belden – The Trixie Belden Mystery Series by Julie Campbell and Kathryn Kenny. Plucky young detectives were kind of a thing there for awhile. Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, etc. That said, Trixie Belden was always just a little bit different. Julie Campbell Tatham wrote the first six books, and then many authors under Western Publishing’s Kathryn Kenny pseudonym wrote the rest of the 3. It’s my belief that those first six books by Julie Campbell set the tone, characterization, and setting in a way that made even the subsequent titles in the series a little more grounded than the average ghost- written mystery series. I prefer the perpetually 1. Trixie to the eternally 1. Nancy, even though I do still have a soft spot for Nancy, as well. Trixie spoke more to my junior- high and elementary school fears and concerns than Nancy did. Trixie fought with her brothers and friends, resented having to do chores, jumped to conclusions, and said things in a fit of temper that she later regretted. She also was more often than not right to have been suspicious, her instincts about others and her skills of observation were excellent, and she always stood up for what she thought was right. She positively influenced her timid best friend to overcome the lingering effects of a long illness, helped rescue a runaway orphan who later became a good friend and crush, learned that her instincts could be occasionally off when she jumped to conclusions about a new student in school, bravely faced down a possibly- rabid dog, and organized charity events to help those less fortunate. On top of all of that, she loved her family and friends and often worried about how she compared to her “girlier” friends. With the exception of dealing with mysteries, kidnappers, and counterfeiters, she reflected my own insecurities, interests, strengths, and weaknesses. I still love you, Trixie Belden. Your series may have ended, but we’ll always have our Internet fandom to cling to for new material and memories! Alanna – Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. The adventures of Alanna were possibly one of the first longer fantasy series I ever attempted in upper elementary and junior high school. Alanna and her twin brother Thom were to be sent off for education that did not suit their interests. Alanna longed to be a knight, and a lifetime of fighting was the last thing scholarly Thom wanted. They traded places, and Alanna hid her gender to get the knight training she wanted more than anything. One of the best things about the Alanna stories is that yes, she wanted to fight, and yes, she was a very adept student, but she remained a very accessible young girl to the reader. She fought for success, scrambled to keep her gender hidden, and dealt with the difficult realities of puberty while having to keep it hidden from those closest to her. In the later books where she’s an adult and her gender is no longer a secret, she’s allowed to be sexual without being defined by her sexuality. She is lovers with a prince, a famous martial artist, and with a King of Thieves (George Cooper, I love you forever. Love, Sara Goodwin), and even allowed to “settle down” into a marriage relationship where she is able to retain her career, which is important to her character, without judgment. Alanna got to truly have it all, but it never seemed trite or too easy. No one recommended this book to me; no one handed it to me and said, “You should read this,” the way they did with the Alanna series. WWF, H& M Ink Five- Year Sustainability Partnership. Photo by Olia Gozha/Unsplash. H& M and the World Wildlife Fund are embarking on a five- year partnership to create a more responsible fashion industry. The new endeavor, which expands upon previous efforts to minimize the Swedish retailer’s water footprint, will include climate action, water stewardship, and a “strategic dialogue” that explores the broader sustainability challenges facing the industry. The collaboration also brought together suppliers, employees, policy makers, and other business, civil, and political stakeholders to contribute to more sustainable water management in the Yangtze in China and the Ganges- Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The new initiative will see H& M and WWF continue their work with those river basins, with an increased focus on collective stakeholder engagement, particularly with larger platforms such as the CEO Water Mandate, the Better Cotton Initiative and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. On the climate front, H& M and WWF will work with suppliers, customers, and policy makers to further reduce greenhouse- gas emissions in H& M’s supply chain. With WWF’s help, the world’s second- largest fashion company will set a new climate strategy, complete with measurable targets, to be unveiled in late 2. Because H& M is a leading player in the fashion industry, it’s well- situated to influence suppliers, customers, and other brands to become more sustainable, according to WWF. Whether “fast fashion,” its wobbly labor issues, and the avid promotion of overconsumption can truly be “sustainable” remains to be seen. All efforts in the new partnership, H& M and WWF say, will align with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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