How female protagonists have changed – and stayed the same – in young adult fiction

Strong female protagonists in young adult fiction are nothing new. From Nancy Drew to Annemarie Johansen – Lois Lowry’s selfless heroine in Holocaust-era “Number the Stars” – to a plucky young Lucy Pevensie in “The Chronicles of Narnia,” young adult fiction has always enjoyed a healthy share of women ready to figure it all out, enlighten, and sometimes literally save the day. More...