Best Books for Boys with Strong Female Characters

by Devon A. Corneal

Photo credit: Leander Baerenz, Stone/Getty Images

I’m going to get in trouble, I know it. Every time I try to recommend books for boys or girls I offend someone. So let me start by saying, I’m not trying to force anyone to read only a certain type of book. I don’t think there are “boys’ books” or “girls’ books.” My son loves Madeline and Olivia, so I’m all about equal opportunity reading. What I hope to do is provide parents with boys who may like more traditionally masculine books (spies, adventure, science fiction, knights and battles, etc.) with some options that include cool, strong, interesting female characters to balance out all the testosterone. That’s it. No other agenda. So if you have a boy who thinks girls have cooties and you want to encourage him to think of girls as more than just cootie carriers, perhaps you may want to sneak a few of these on his shelf. You could also offer him cootie spray until he’s read a few.