In June, I received an intriguing letter from a language arts teacher named Susan.  

Susan was looking for novels that would introduce her students to strong, well-written female protagonists like the books she’s teaching now – ”The Bluest Eye,” “The Round House” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” among others.

She wrote: “I’m looking for strong, gutsy, 'clean' novels that allow me to teach a strong, gutsy curriculum without raising the hackles of book banning groups.”  

And then she added:  “I know this is a tall order.”

Yes, a tall order, but a challenging and delectable one!  So here’s what I wrote back:

“Honored to be consulted on your reading/teaching list! Bravo for the work you do.  I'm delighted to give you a number of books to consider."

Check these out:

I'm a huge fan of Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-American author that I've interviewed several times. "Brother, I'm Dying" and "Claire of the Sea Light" are both beautiful books.

Ann Patchett is wonderful and I love her novel, "State of Wonder" best. Good ethical conundrums, feminist themes and luscious descriptions that shouldn't activate the book banners.

Shannon Gibney is fantastic! "Dream Country" and her newest memoir "The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be" should be required reading. So good! 

I think you should put the sci-fi queen, Octavia Butler, on your list. She was innovative, prescient and the students might have some interesting thoughts about how predictive her books are. “Kindred” and “the Parable of the Sower” are exceptional.

And I'm going to add Leni Zumas’ "Red Clocks" to your list because I love this book so much and recommend it all the time.  

Even if it doesn't sneak past the narrow-minded book banners, you could whisper it to the true book lovers in your class. 

So, now I’m going to turn this challenge to you, my Thread-reading friends:  

Send me the title of a single well-written, literarily ambitious novel that features a strong female protagonist that high school students would find compelling and memorable.  Email me at: kmiller@mpr.org.

— Kerri Miller | MPR News