By Harper Lee

Just six years old, little Scout seems an odd narrator for To Kill A Mockingbird, a serious novel about racial discrimination - but the courageous young girl is more than up to the job. Physically strong - and extremely intelligent - Scout learns to question the world around her and the prejudices people hold, about women, about ethnic minorities and about anyone who they view as "different" to them. She helps to defend her father Atticus from a baying mob, questions her teacher when she makes vicious comments about African Americans and, come the end of it all, becomes someone her father (and the reader) are very proud to know. All rise for Scout Finch!

8. Jo March - Little Women

The 10 most inspiring girls in children's books