10 Fierce girls in YA fiction

Yes, we all know the oft-cited girls of bestselling lit: the Katniss Everdeens and the Hermione Graingers.

But what other great girl role models are we missing out on? I asked around, and here are a few of the B.A. girl heroines who make our teen, tween and kids librarians jump for joy.

List compiled by Becca Paquette, Lissa Staley and Natalie Moreland.

1. Cammie Morgan

Elite spy in training at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, she can track, tap phones and hack computers, but sometimes she wants to be an ordinary girl.

2. Darlene Joyce (D.J.) Schwenk

A straight-talking athlete who gave up her star status to take over the family dairy farm, she becomes the first girl linebacker on her high school football team, and keeps her family together when no one else is talking and everything falls apart.

3. Tula Bane

📕 Tin Star and Stone in the Sky

Escaping death and thirsty for revenge on the leader who took her family, living by her wits as the only human on the space station she calls home.

4. Seraphina

📕 Seraphina and Shadow Scale

An unusually gifted musician in an alternative-medieval world, investigating a sinister plot in the treaty between the humans and the dragons, while hiding her own life-threatening secret

5. Raina Telgemeier

📕 Smile

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.

Raina can't wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren't quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she's also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years. But when a baby brother enters the picture and later, when something doesn't seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

6. Sophie Brown

📕 Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer

When she inherits a flock of magical chickens, intelligent and resourceful Sophie quickly learns how to take care of them, consulting the library, the neighbors and her abuelita’s ghost.

7. Delilah Dirk

📕 Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant

Badass, take-charge, courageous Delilah travels the world, fights for what she wants, and leads a life of adventure and excitement.

8. Jacqueline Woodson

📕 Brown Girl Dreaming

Introspective, resilient and passionate, Jacqueline follows her lifelong dream in spite of many difficulties.

9. Mo LeBeau

📕 Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

Headstrong and determined, insatiably curious, and with a strong sense of justice, Mo sets her mind to solving a town mystery, and does it.

10. Liesel Meminger

📕 The Book Thief

Strong willed, defensive, and angry, this brave protagonist overcomes hardship and learns to love and be loved during the worst of times in Nazi Germany. Liesel risks her life for her friends and family and demonstrates her now strong morals. Despite extreme hardship, she still gives back to humanity.