The anti-Twilight : YA Feminist Lit

In light of beka’s post about Twilight and the fishy ‘independence’ of it’s heroine and the fact that the movie is making wheelbarrows full of cash , I wanted to pass on some recommendations for good feminist-friendly YA books.  They would make good stocking stuffers for any teen girls or boys in your life, Twilight obsessed or not, that enjoy reading and that you would like to indoctrinate/influence with feminist leanings.  And yes Virginia, you can read them too because these are some awesome stories. 

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray is a wonderful book for anyone who liked the magical worlds and supernatural romance of Twilight , but prefers that it’s heroine to be stronger and have more of her own voice.  It is the first in a trilogy, with Rebel Angels and Sweet Far Thing being the other volumes.  The story starts in 1895 when Gemma Doyle has a vision of her mother being murdered, a vision that comes true.  She must leave India, the only home she has ever known, to attend a stuffy boarding school in England.  She slowly begins to learn about herself and her powers, eventually making three unique friends that she is able to take into ‘the realms’, a land of magical enchantment.  She meets a boy and starts to fall for him (of course), but he is Indian and a member of a secret society determined to stop her from exercising her powers. 

Themes of matriarchy vs. patriarchy are all over this book, and it doesn’t shy away from racism and classism (though it is from a white POV).  It showcases the historical repression of women in Victorian England, and couples it with strong heroines who must balance their powerlessness in the real world with a supernatural world that hands them nearly unlimited power.  Plus, the interracial and intercultural romance between Gemma and Kartik is pretty hot (but just as chaste as the first three books of Twlight ), and there is some surprising queer content in the last book. 

Speaking of queer content, I can’t recommend Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole enough.  It is this beautiful coming of age story about a lesbian Cuban-American girl in Miami who suddenly finds herself kicked out of her school and home when her secret is exposed.  First, this is one of those “finally a good book about queer young women of color!” books.  The story is enmeshed in Cuban American and Latino/a culture, including the racism, machismo, food, language, religion, geography, immigration, underemployment, and cultural expectations.  When the main character Laura finds tortillera subculture, she is so cautious because they are so like her and so unlike her that the reader is just sucked into this world and her struggles.  This book also gets super feminist QPOC bonus points for Tazer – the first genderqueer boi Latino I’ve ever seen in YA fic – who is an exceptionally well-written secondary character. But beyond the setting or the characters, it is just a great book.  It is a heartbreaking and beautiful look at coming out and coming of age, of being 17 and not knowing what you want or what you could do.  The quick pace of the book lures you in to the larger fundamental questions about what parts of our identity that are permanent or flexible and the process by which anyone comes to be an adult.   

Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught is that novel I dreamed of reading as a fat teen.  I have never seen such blatant fat acceptance (personally and politically) in YA lit before EVER.  The main character Jamie is fat and she is not afraid to say so.  She is so unafraid that she starts a column in her school newspaper about all the bullshit and oppression that fat people face.  She goes into skinny stores and demands to be treated equally even though she weighs about 300lbs and then writes about it for the paper.  She understands her genetic predispositions towards fat and gets that skinny =/= healthy.  She doesn’t see her fat as a moral failure!  She has a fat boyfriend and weighs the pros and cons of gastric bypass surgery among social pressure and the looming questions about her future.  She is this strong funny outspoken activist, but she constantly has to try not to let herself be crumbled by a society that wants to tear her down.  I think Susan Vaught deserves a huge pat on the back for writing a book that will help young fat women feel confident and help other teens think about the way they treat their fat peers.   

If you have a manga fan and you want to show him/her a strong female protagonist, I adore the series Miki Falls .  It is four books (Miki Falls : Spring , Summer , Autumn , and Winter ) and it is written by Japanese-American manga author Mark Crilley.  The main character Miki is everything that Bella in Twilight isn’t.  She really is strong and independent, from the first book and growing more so towards the end.  While her romance with Hiro is just as star-crossed as Edward and Bella, the difference is that Miki doesn’t put up with Hiro’s “I’m going to break up with you for your own good” or “I’ll make all the decisions to keep you safe” bullshit.  Over the series, they face challenges as a couple stemming from the supernatural work he does (I’m not going to spoil it for you, but lets just say that it is a creative and unique look at the superhuman guy/normal girl pairing) but they work through these challenges together and she fights for herself and her relationship instead of just pining.  And I love love love the ending because she is finds this inner strength even when she should be whittled down to nothing.  She doesn’t win at the end just because she loves her man, but because the trials they endured have made her the kind of woman who doesn’t let others (especially her supernatural ‘betters’) dictate her destiny. 

Some honorable mentions : City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is often praised for being like Twilight with a better heroine, however I’ve never read it because it is always checked out!  Likewise, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins stars a strong female heroine in a dystopian future and is probably going to win a couple book awards this year for being great sci-fi for teens.  Hunger Games is also a good one to give boys who usually don’t read books about girls and feelings. 

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson is this beautiful lyrical love story about an unexperianced young black father and his daughter, great for anyone who really likes sappy family stories and wants something that encourages men to take an active role in child rearing.  And I’m a huge fan of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (the first in a series containing Uglies , Pretties , Specials , and Extras ) because the futuristic setting allows him to bluntly and critically question fascist beauty standards in ways that many teens don’t accept from fiction written in contemporary times.  Nobody’s Princess (and it’s sequel Nobody’s Prize ) by Esther Friesner are retellings of the myth of Helen of Troy.  Only instead of just being beautiful, this Helen learns swordsmanship and runs off to have her own adventures.  It is a great reclaiming of a character whose worth has always been based on her looks. 

These are just some of the great YA books out there with explicitly or implicitly feminist characters, themes, and settings.  While I’m still looking for a teen novel where the protagonist says "I’m a feminist", there is definitely more out there then just Twilight .