I like Clarissa Fray in The Mortal Instruments series. She is constantly learning and growing as a person and doesn't lose her cool in battle, which is always important. :)

Alice (Lewis Carroll's) was a brunette... and I agree about her curiosity and daring. You are forgetting Jane Austen's Lizzy Bennett, the BEST female character in fiction... knew who she was, knew how to find happiness and had enough heart to be human and make us feel with her.

Great list, Nick. (I'd add Arya from the Game of Thrones series.) Here are another couple of favorites:

Lyra Belacqua - In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra lives in a parallel world to our own, which contains witches and armored bears; people's souls are embodied in daemon companions that take the form of talking animals. Coming of age is tough when it's your destiny to save the world.

Alfreda Sorensson - In Night Calls, by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Allie learns the ins and outs of living on the early American frontier with her family, and how to deal with ghosts, witches, and werewolves.

Really glad you're thinking about well-developed female characters and am glad you're reading to your daughter. I haven't read in this genre very much, but I try to channel Eowyn on a regular basis.

I'm gonna check out some of the others I haven't read.

Thanks :-)