Favorite Heroines

I can remember growing up and reading about Robin Hood, King Arthur, Peter Pan, and Sir Galahad, but my favorite books had female heroines. I guess I should have known then that I would end up a gamer, but I hadn't yet been exposed to RPGs. One of my favorite books while I was growing up was Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. I vividly remember the heroine, Aerin, defeating the dragon where no male had been successful. Now we're talking! A girl slaying a dragon when boys couldn't!

To whet your appetite, here is a excerpt from the book, found on the authors website (www.robinmckinley.com)

The Hero and the Crown
The book was faded with age, and the style of lettering was strange to her, so she had to puzzle out some of the words; and some of the words were archaic and unfamiliar, so she had to puzzle out the meanings. But it was worth it, for this book told her stories more exciting than the ones she made up for herself before she fell asleep at night. And so, as she read, she first learned of the old dragons.

Damar had dragons still; little ones, dog-sized, nasty, mean-tempered creatures who would fry a baby for supper and swallow it in two gulps if they could; but they had been beaten back into the heavy forest and the wilder Hills by Aerin