Who Is Your Favorite Story Book Character?

[Alice]

When I was a kid I wanted to be just like Jo in Little Women. I think I have somewhat suceeded. I am a lot like this character.

There are two reasons I usually fall in love with characters in books: 1-I am just like them already and can totally relate and 2-I am so unlike them, but I find them so heroic.

When you can find a character that fits in both of these categories, then I think that a writer has completely succeeded.

I loved Jo because she was so adventurous and brave. I felt like I was already a little mischevious, but wanted to be more brave.

[ABC]

I liked Ramona Quimby a lot. We had a lot in common personality-wise, plus we both had bossy, uptight older sisters!

[Shelly]

As a kid I always wanted to be Laura Ingalls. She was my hero.

[Robbie]

Shelly,
I always liked Laura, too. And I confess that it bothers me just a little bit that my daughter like Mary better. I wonder if it's a birth order thing?

[Alia]

I too always identified with Ramona. I think it was that she so strongly felt the injustices of adults. But now I realize I probably was actually Beezus. I was the bossy older sister!

[Martha]

Robbie,
I don't think it's a birth order thing. I'm the oldest & I prefer Laura. Maybe she just connects more to Mary since she gets into less trouble. Oc course, she may just wish she were more like Mary herself. They are just theories you'd have to talk to your daughter to find out why she likes Mary. Just don't worry about it though. There is nothing wrong w/ it.

[Deborah]

I definitely related with Ramona, but I'd have to go with Pippi Longstocking! All about being your own person.

[Robbie]

Martha:
I didn't mean that it bothered me in a worried parent way. Just in a "I can't believe you like that goodie-two-shoes! What are you thinking?!" way. ;)

[Amy]

My all time fave is Anne (with an e) Shirley! She had spunk and character and always seemed to have things that just happened to her, just like I did (and still do). She grew up with a boy who teased her, married him and had a wonderful life - never thought about that part much, but I suppose I married my Gilbert too. Hmmm, mushy but true!

[Cindy]

Ramona was my favorite growing up but I didn't want to be her, I just wanted to live on Klickitat Street so we could have been friends. It would have been a blast, coffee can stilts and all. :)

[Sarah]

I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking. She had a house to herself, a monkey, a horse and a pirate-king father!

[Prabha]

As a kid I always wanted to be like Elizabeth "The Naughtiest Girl" at school. She had such fun, and still became the monitor!

[Rebecca]

Even though I'm a girl, when I was quite young I wanted to be Christopher Robin. I so wanted to be Pooh's best friend, garden with Rabbit, learn life's lessons from Owl, hop through the woods with Tigger and play Pooh Stix with Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore.

As I got older I also wanted to be Laura Ingalls, Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden, Trixie Belden, Jo March, and Lucy Honeychurch from A Room With A View, all lovely fascinating girls/women.

[[deleted user]]

My "new" favorite is Clementine. She reminds me a lot of Ramona, but with even more quirkiness. She cracks me up....if only she were a real kid!

[ABC]

Amanda~~what is Clementine from? I've never heard of her.

I wanted to dress my son like Christopher Robin~~sailor suits, and sky blue checked shirts with tan shorts and loafers~~but he would have none of it!!!! lol

[Prabha]

Rebecca, I love Christopher Robin too. His friendship with Pooh is just so beautiful! My son loves the Pooh books, but he always wants to be Tigger!

[Rebecca]

Well Tigger has the most fun!! :)

I teach kindergarten, and am in LOVE with Kevin Henkes books. His characters are so sweet and lovely. My favorite character is Sheila Rae, as she learns to be so brave! However, all of his characters are so cute...Chrysanthemum, Chester, Wendell, Kitten, Wemberly, Julius (Lilly's baby brother), Owen, Lilly (and her purple plastic purse!) At the beginning of the year, when I give a tour of the school to my new kiddos, we go on a hunt for Lilly's things...her purse (each child takes turns holding it), her sunglasses, her stuffy...

[Kim]

I LOVE Kevin Henkes...my daughter is three and is just starting to enjoy these. She is also in love with Olivia right now. And the book Little Pea (which is so darling) and she loves Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? She's really getting into Madeline. As for my favorite all time character - it's too hard to choose: I sure loved Harriet the Spy, Meg from A Wrinkle in Time, all the Little House on the Prairie girls, and Ramona Quimby.

[Lisa]

Pippi Longstockings then a little older Anne Shirley.

[Rebecca]

Kim have you read Fancy Nancy to her? ooooh she'll LOVE her! There are three books I believe.

Olivia is awesome. I still giggle every time that I read those books.

[sarafem]

This is a fun topic that I think deserves a little resurrection...

I agree with Minorlibrarian who said that Stargirl would have been her favorite if the book were published in the 80s. Stargirl is one of my all-time favorite books.

When I was very young, maybe until age 8, I wanted to be Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew was my mother's favorite as a child (my mother's own name was Nancy Drew) and she had the entire collection in hardback; I'm sure it's quite valuable now. Anyway, I had consumed all of them by the time I was 8 or 9 and I just loved her.

Pippi Longstocking and Ramona Quimby were also favorites. Basically any strong girl who went against the grain.

My daughter went through stages where she reminded me of Fancy Nancy and Junie B. Jones (drove me crazy with both). These days, she loves Meg from Narnia.

[Valerie]

I love Stargirl, too. I was a little hesitant to read Love, Stargirl because I didn't know if I could possibly love it as much as the first book, but I did (and would recommend it).

In terms of a character I would have liked to have been as a child, I think that would have been Lucy from the Narnia Tales. The religious aspects of the book went over my head, but I would have loved to have been with Mr. Tumnus in his woodland home, walking with Aslan with my hands buried in his mane, or going along on her many adventures...

[Karen & Gerard]

Definitely Peter Pan, no doubt about it! I knew I had it good as a kid and really didn't want to grow up. Zack is my favorite modern-day one though because he has so many amazing adventures (from Zack Files by Dan Greenburg).

[Cathy]

I always enjoyed being Peter Pan. I thought he went on the greatest adventures. My Lost Boys (or girls, as the case may be) and I would play for hours in the woods behind our house.

[Emily]

Olivia! I love Olivia! I'm so glad someone finally brought her up :)

I also loved Ramona as a kid (I used to write Ramona stories in the third grade) and then later loved Jo. Hmmmm, Olivia, Ramona, Jo, Anne Shirley, Pippi Longstocking . . . anyone else noticing a pattern here?


Rebecca wrote: "Kim have you read Fancy Nancy to her? ooooh she'll LOVE her! There are three books I believe.

Olivia is awesome. I still giggle every time that I read those books. "

[April Ann]

Piglet!!! And I love Olivia too! Maybe it's something about pigs!

[Tahleen]

Anne Shirley! I love that series. And Salamanca from Walk Two Moons. There is just something about her and her story, I wanted to be a part of it when I read the book.

[Tahleen]

Great thanks! It's been a while, but I'd love to check it out and try to participate.

[☼Bookish]

Right now -- and this is subject to constant change-- my favorite character is Pigeon... as in Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and Pigeon Wants a Puppy.

Pigeon is goofy and sassy and makes my house fill with peals of laughter. How can I not love Pigeon.

[Lorie]

Alice from Wonderland, she loved cats and exploring not really knowing where she is or where she is going. Plus she tries new things and and is comfortable meeting new friends.

[Beverly, Miscellaneous Club host]

I think Meg from A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite book characters. I loved how determined she was, and how she persevered in looking for her father.

[QNPoohBear]

My childhood friends were Laura Ingalls, Anne Shirley, and Jo March. Then the American Girl characters, especially Kirsten, Samantha and Felicity (but apparently I'm Molly, who I didn't like), then Addy. I loved Pippi, Ramona, Wilbur and Charlotte (Charlotte's Web), Pooh, Piglet, all the classics but mostly it was Anne who shaped my tween years and then later Jo/Louisa May Alcott who has shaped my young adulthood and adulthood.

Adult favorites young adults can also get to know and love include Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) and Amelia Peabody (Crocodile on the Sandbank) and innumerable cozy mystery heroines.

[Manybooks]

Emily Byrd Starr from L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series, Cecily King (even if she is doomed to die young) from L.M. Montgomery’s The Sory Girl novels, Madicken (Madita) from Astrid Lindgren’s Madicken series (but NOT in English translation), Margaret Simon from Lucy Blume’s Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret and Marcy Lewis from Paula Danziger’s The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (but not the sequel).

[Cheryl , Newbery Club host]

Lorie wrote: "Alice from Wonderland, she loved cats and exploring not really knowing where she is or where she is going. Plus she tries new things and and is comfortable meeting new friends."

Ooh, I never thought about her this way. Whenever I read the book my focus is on the wordplay and nonsense characters, etc... but Alice is indeed a 'authentic person' in her own right. Brave, curious, persistent, etc. And the author doesn't go all in the reader's face saying "look at this great role model."

[Steve]

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Lorie wrote: "Alice from Wonderland, she loved cats and exploring not really knowing where she is or where she is going. Plus she tries new things and and is comfortable meeting new friends."

Ooh,..."Well said.