plucky female heroines.

i have been reading some books recently with plucky female heroines, of which i do approve.

there is Howard Whitehouse's "The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones" series:

Strictest School in the World, The: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken

Faceless Fiend, The: Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife

and

sland of Mad Scientists, The: Being an Excursion to the Wilds of Scotland, Involving Many Marvels of Experimental Invention, Pirates, a Heroic Cat, a Mechanical Man and a Monkey

This series has not one but TWO plucky female heroines, Emmaline herself, a plucky young aviatrix, or at least designer of flying machines, and her friend the fearsome Princess Purnah of Chiligrit. Not to mention their sidekick, Rubberbones, the boy who bounces off anything.

Also, I've just read the 2nd Theodosia Throckmorton book, and have the 1st from the library. I do recommend:
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
and
Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris

Young Theodosia's parents are a curator and an archaeologist and she and her cat Isis have their hands (and paws) full as members of a secret society dedicated to ensuring that the powerful dark magic associated with certain artifacts is not allowed to fall into enemy hands. These books have been compared to Nancy Drew meets Indiana Jones.

And finally I just finished China Mieville's Un Lun Dun. It sort of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland and Spirited Away. Two girls find themselves in an alternate London that is being overtaken by sentient Smog and one of them becomes an anti-hero.


If I had children, this is the sort of thing I would want them to read.