True Grit is one of the great American classics—a
sensational, dryly comic coming-of-age tale set after the Civil War. Appealing to adults and teens alike since its
first publication in 1968 to it’s double
adaptation for the big
screen, and its chart-topping stint on the New
York Times bestseller list, Charles Portis’s masterpiece is a model in
enduring literature.
Now available in a new YA edition (read an
excerpt here!) complete with reader’s guide and afterword from renowned critic
and author Leonard Marcus, TRUE
GRIT features one of the pluckiest, fiercest heroines in literature. What
makes for a heroine with staying power? Who are the most memorable little
ladies out there? We’ve rounded up a
few of our favorites below, including our own “legendary” (Washington Post) Mattie Ross.
On the very first page, we meet our no-nonsense narrator Mattie
Ross, a fourteen-year-old girl setting out to find the hopeless coward who shot
down her father in Arkansas. Mattie wastes no time in enlisting the
toughest U.S. Marshal—the only one described as possessing true grit—to track
down her father’s killer. Mattie’s tenacity, courage, and single-mindedness elicit
both anger and admiration from the gruff, hardened frontier men she teams up
with on her moral mission. She is not
one to back down, but simply cows them with her gumption (we won’t spoil the
ending)!
We’ve found a kindred spirit in Roald Dahl’s Matilda, the
supernaturally-gifted daughter of idiotic, unappreciative parents who overcomes
her wretched home life—and one monstrous school principal—to find happiness
with her beloved teacher, Ms. Honey. The best thing about Matilda
Wormwood is that she, just like us, loves books! Early on in Matilda,
she journeys to the library all on her own, and soon is conquering the
literature in the grown-up section, much to the surprise of the librarian.
Now this is a girl we could spend some serious time with.
And how we could forget Jean Louse Finch, aka Scout?
In To
Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s
tomboyish heroine for the ages watches as her righteous lawyer father overcomes
the racism endemic to their Southern town. A faithful, assertive girl by
nature, Scout finds her faith tested numerous times throughout the book, but in
the end absorbs her father’s lessons about equality and justice. Aside from her precocity, we praise her for her charm and for her ability to
embrace all people, even Boo Radley, the town outcast.
Who are your favorite wee heroines in literature?
No comments:
Post a Comment