9 Books With Positive Role Models For Girls

Laura W. reaches for "the classics" from her own youth to inspire her daughters with positive female role models. Her favorite feisty feminine heroine is the leading lady of Anne of Green Gables: 11-year-old Anne Shirley.

Sylvia H. recommends The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse. "The heroine is a girl who likes to build flying machines," she says. She says it is a good read for moms to recommend to daughters looking for female inspiration in navigating life's common rites of passage for teens.

The perennial classic Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene is what Jessica B. highly recommends. She says this go-getter sleuth has been inspiring for girls for decades.

Cyndi S. recommends Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. The leading character, Margaret Simon, "speaks her mind" and offers her coming-of-age anxieties and concerns as a 12-year-old.

Julia R. recommends The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. "The female characters are pretty strong and positive," she says.

Dawn B. recommends the American Girl doll book collection — specifically the American Girl of 2013 Saige book set — because all the books in the series "reference life happenings, overcoming obstacles through perseverance and determination." "They are great books for girls," she says. "They are very inspiring and a good book, since life hands you these obstacles quite often."