One of my favorite genres has always been fantasy. I read "Harry Potter" when I was around 11 or 12 and it sparked a love for the genre in me that burns bright to this day. I loved the magic and the friendship in the series but something else that resonated with me was Hermione Granger. I was so empowered as a preteen girl reading about another preteen girl who was smart and bookish and brave. She helped me to feel proud of who I was, and as a young girl that was really important to me. The other characters on this list are also fictional girls who I have connected with in this way. My hope is that anybody who reads this list will read these books and have a similar experience to what I felt when I was a kid. Fictional women are amazing and real women are too!