The Curious World of Middle Grade’s Most Precocious Leading Ladies

Our favorite young naturalist, Callie Vee, is back in The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate. Not only does she set off on new adventures, surveying animals, weather, and stars, but she also challenges the stereotypical gender roles of early 20th century America. She wants to observe, record and know everything there is to know, not sit with her sewing and knitting and other domestic arts.
Like Calpurnia, there are a lot of precocious and inspiring young girls in literature who open literal and metaphorical doors to new worlds. While their collective curiosity often sends them into Alice in Wonderland–like rabbit holes, they also teach young readers that questioning our world is important if we want to get at the truth of who we are and who we’re to become. Here are just a few of these inquisitive young women.

Calpurnia Tate (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly)
Can earthworms be trained? Why do dogs need eyebrows? Why are there yellow grasshoppers? These are just some of the questions that this young naturalist sets off to answer as she tries to understand the world around her. The only girl in her rambunctious family, Callie Vee never stops questioning our natural world and how she fits inside it.

Harriet M. Welsch (Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh)
This tomato sandwich–eating young writer may get herself into a little trouble while taking detailed notes on her friends, classmates, and neighbors along an afternoon “spy route”, but Harriet’s keen observations and insatiable curiosity eventually lead her toward a dream career when she ends up the editor of the class newspaper.

The Penderwick sisters (The Penderwicks series, by Jeanne Birdsall)
Together, Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Betty are a force to be reckoned with. Rarely satisfied to stay indoors and while the days away, these four well-meaning sisters are restless for adventure. Even if they have a tendency to poke their noses where they don’t belong, they usually find a way to set their misadventures straight.

Coraline Jones (Coraline, by Neil Gaiman)
Despite warnings, Coraline’s curiosity gets the best of her when she moves into a new home and discovers a locked door that leads to a fantastical “other world” with a mother and father seemingly more loving and extraordinary than her own. This initial utopia turns dark and Coraline must use her wits to trick the keepers of her new life into allowing her to return to her old one.

Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgson Burnett)
When this sulking, selfish, orphaned girl is sent to live with her Uncle in Misselthwaite Manor, the last thing she expects to find is a robin leading her toward the key to a secret garden. When she opens the doors, Mary discovers what it means to love and care, not just for a garden, but for others, as well as herself.

Octobia May (Unstoppable Octobia May, by Sharon G. Flake)
Like Calpurnia, Octobia May is full of questions. Whether they lead her to graveyards or troubled paths along the river or to the scolding of adults who think she’s too nosy, Octobia doesn’t let anyone off the hook. Her perseverance becomes especially important when it comes to questions of race in this heart-pumping tale that takes place in the 1950’s.

Lucky (The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron)
After eavesdropping at her town’s 12-step meetings, Lucky’s curiosity is peeked when she hears about a “higher power”. Suspecting that her guardian, Brigitte, is abandoning her for France, Lucky decides to leave her small town of Hard Pan to set off on an adventure to find her own “higher power”.

Claudia Kincaid (From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg)
Claudia Kincaid’s desire for adventure sends this secret-seeker to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she finds herself caught up in solving a great mystery of an angel statue purchased at a bargain price but potentially worth millions.
Who are your favorite precocious girls of Middle Grade?