

Wildwoodand Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy.Except the Queen by Midori Snyder and Jane Yolen (honorable mention).The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi.


Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (honorable mention).Libyrinth by Pearl North (honorable mention).The Dream of the Stone by Christina Askounis.The Hunter’s Moon and The Summer King by O.R.The Ancient One (and Heartlight – honorable mention) by T.A.The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M.The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through by Stephen R.Tithe, Ironside and Valiant by Holly Black.The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley (honorable mention).The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs (honorable mention).War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (honorable mention).Forests of the Heartby Charles de Lint (honorable mention).The Valley of the Wolves by Laura Gallego Garcia (honorable mention).The Compass Rose by Gail Dayton (honorable mention).Poisons of Caux: The Hollow Bettle by Susannah Appelbaum.May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson.Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.I have also assembled a playlist of music and music videos that exemplify the archetype. Bolded entries denote my personal favorites. “Honorable mentions” indicate that the example generally follows the archetype but is missing one or more key elements (such as a final confrontation with the adversary). Examples below are sorted by type, and then generally in order of my reading/watching them, with the most recent finds at the end. This list is being constantly updated as I add more examples of the Girls Underground archetype from books, movies, and other media (there are also a few linked on the Fairytales page).

“The traffic flow from folklore to fiction and film has always been heavy.”
