June
10
POLL: Favorite Characters
If you read enough books, you are guaranteed to find characters who are going to leave their mark on you. They are much more than the sum total of words and artwork on the pages we read. We think about the things they have done and said. We wonder about them. And they never really leave us.
The cast of characters that stay with us is probably varied and highly individual, but they all are testament to the magic and wonder that authors and illustrators have been able to create.
Who are the characters that have stayed with you? Share your answer with us in the comments!
I love Mary Lennox (Secret Garden) and Salamanca Tree Hiddle of Walk Two Moons. I am sure there are lots of others but these 2 have stayed with me for years and years and years.
This is tough since there are so many that I love! Here are a few:
Lara Jean & Kitty Song Covey from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before & P.S. I Still Love You
Kelsey Finkelstein from Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters
Felton Reinstein from Stupid Fast
Frankie Landau-Banks from The Disreptuable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Manchee from The Knife of Never Letting Go
Adam Wilde from Where She Went
Violet Ambrose from The Body Finder
Lucky Linderman from Everybody Sees the Ants
And many more!
India Opal in Because of Winn Dixie.
Charlotte Doyle, Jess Aarons (Terabithia), Vicky Austin (L’Engle’s Austin books), and Amari (Copper Sun).
I thought of Vicky Austin right away…
Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables) and Scout Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird)
I adore the Anne of Green Gables series!! Anne’s definitely up as one of my faves, too.
Snape from Harry Potter and The Little Princess, both will be forever with me.
Henry and Mudge, both of them.
Ani from the Goose Girl.
The Paperbag Princess.
Encyclopedia Brown when I was young because he made knowing things cool.
Jo March because she made being “different” and not fitting into the mould okay.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird and Jane Eyre
Anne of Green Gables
Templeton from Charlotte’s Web
Albie from Absolutely Almost
Mr. Spiro from Paperboy
This is tough but fun to think about!
Great Uncle Merry from The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper
Manchee from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Willow Chance and Jairo Hernandez from Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Miss Havisham from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Lyra from His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
Serena from Serena by Ron Rash
Taran & Eilonwy from the Chronicles of Prydain; Lion Serbousek from Stotan! & Ironman;
For me, it is hands-down Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. I loved the book when I first read it in high school and I had the privilege of teaching the novel for a few years at the beginning of my career. Every time I read the book I find something new to love about a man with strong convictions who raised his children as an exemplary example of a father.
Kit and Nat from Witch of Blackbird Pond.Every student should read that book in U.S. history. Also, should read Johnny Tremain and My Brother Sam is Dead.,
All four March sisters from Little Women, but especially Jo.
Georgie Burkhardt from “One Came Home”
Grandma Dowdel from “A Long Way From Chicago” & “A Year Down Yonder”
Ivan from “The One and Only Ivan”
Julie & Maddie from “Code Name Verity”
Junior from “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”
Loved Grandma Dowdell!
Grandma Dowdel for the win! 👍🏻
Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March from Little Women are all memorable characters. Reading about their struggles in making life choices provided guidance in making my own life decisions such as choosing to be kind and strong.
Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables
Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter
Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars
It is difficult to narrow down my favorite characters!
Harry Potter
Eragon
Jaron from “The False Prince” trilogy
August from “Wonder”
Despereaux from “The Tale of Despereaux”
Scout, of course.
August from Wonder, Ivan from The One and Only Ivan, and Albie from Absolutely Almost
Oh yes! All three are favorites of mine, and of my 5th grade students!
Book characters have always been my heroes, my inspiration and sometimes even my pretense-best-friends. There are many characters I have known but very few stay back with me for ever. The top two are as follows:
Bartimaeus: Created by Jonathan Stroud, from the Bartimaeus trilogy, is a demon summoned to Earth. He isn’t overly glad with that (like ever) and he is not supposed to voice that out to his human masters, but he never fails to in his own sassy, sarcastic and cheeky way. I totally love him.
Luna Lovegood: Created by J. K. Rowling, from the Harry Potter series, is a character that hardly anybody unaware of. I have days when I just die to exclaim, “Look, a Nargle!” just to get them to shut up. In real life, she would totally have been a give-no-shit person.
Fang from the Maximum Ride series
Doug from Okay for Now; Clementine from Sara Pennypacker’s delightful series; Junior from Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian; Willow from Counting by 7s; Rose from Rain, Reign; Ally from Fish in a Tree.
YES! Definitely Rose!!
Austin from Grasshopper Jungle, Calaena from Throne of Glass and Tully from Tully by Paullina Simons
Anne of the beloved classic, Anne of Green Gables. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Pippi Longstocking, too!!
Matilda (Dahl), Miss Stretchberry (Creech), and Elizabeth Bennet (Austen)
Harry, Hermione and Luna of HP
Alaska of Looking for Alaska
Claire and Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.
Frances (Russel Hoban), Karana (Island of the Blue Dolphins, O’Dell), George (Haughton); Harry the Dirty Dog (Zion/Bloy Graham)
Dicey Tillerman from Cynthia Voight’s The Tillerman Saga. First book in series is Homecoming, then Dicey’s Song. I also agree with Diane about Matilda and Miss Stretchberry having JUST now read the entire Love that Dog to the 4th graders I am substitute teaching. Also Opal in Winn-Dixie.
The scene where Dicey’s friend stands up to her teacher, saying her friend didn’t and couldn’t plagiarize, is amazing!
-Grandma Dowdel from A Long Way to Chicago & A Year Down Yonder
-Jack Will and Summer (tie) from Wonder
There are so many! But a few of my favorites, in no particular order, are:
Masterharper Robinton (Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey)
Aragorn, Eowyn, and Haldir (LOTR)
Blackthorn (Blackthorn and Grim series by Juliet Marillier)
Morgaine (Mists of Avalon)
Ayla (Clan of the Cave Bear)
Crawley (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)
Oh my gosh, in sixth grade I devoured the Dragonriders series in my school library! Loved those boooks! Also a fan of Mists of Avalon and Clan on the Cave Bear–I’m betting we’re about the same age. 🙂
Sounds like it. I’m 37. Even if we’re not of an age, yay for reading friends! 😁
George and Martha!!!
Flavia DeLuce from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! Adore her. Gandalf the Grey and Samwise Gamgee are right up there as well
Flavia is wonderful!
Just picked this up to read at the library today! Now I’m even more excited! 🙂
Such a good — and fun — question! Jo March, Owen Meany, Anne Shirley, Hermione, and Anika Dragomir from Anatomy of a Misfit.
Scout!!! Can’t get enough of her.
Skippyjohn Jones – spunky and hilarious
Mr. Darcy – swoon.
Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief – oh so amazing.
So many! Hard to narrow down!!
Scout and Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.
India Opal from Because of Winn Dixie
Scout!
Chaunticleer (Book of the Dun Cow); Lina (Wheel on the School)
Harry Potter – Harry Potter series
Sherlock Holmes- Sherlock Holmes series
Charlie – The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Hazel Grace Lancaster – The Fault In Our Stars
Vito Corleone – The Godfather
Yey! Another Sherlock Holmes Fan 🙂 I thought I’m the only one alive.
Turtle Wexler is the absolute very best. I’ve had so many students over the years who remind me of her (or maybe she just reminds me of them).
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince I learned about matters of consequences.
Luna Lovegood might be number one. it’s like we could be bffs
The Lorax has also taught me to defend those without a voice.
I’ve never forgotten Ann of Green Gables, Loser, Caddie Woodlawn, or Taash and Kasha (never understood why McKenzie’s books didn’t catch on…ahead of her time??) On the adult level, Nicholas deFleury from Dorothy Dunnett’s amazing historical series haunts me and everyone else I know who’s taken the time to read that intricate set of books more than once.
Calvin & Hobbes – I know they didn’t start out in a book, but they did eventually end up being the stars of many books.
Liesel from The Book Thief
Jonas and the Giver from The Giver
Atticus and Scout Finch
I’m going to try not to write a dissertation here, but this such a great question!
Jo, Little Women
Melinda, Speak
Esperanza, House on Mango Street
Flora, Flora and Ulysses
August, Wonder
Ivan, The One and Only Ivan
Zoe, Wild Things
Eleanor, Eleanor and Park
Margaret, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Harry Potter
Hazel Grace, Fault in Our Star
Ponyboy, The Outsiders
Owen, A Prayer for Owen Meany
Holden, Cather in the Rye
…and of course, Scout & Atticus, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jo March from Little Women, Huck from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jonas from The Giver, Sophie Nevue and Leigh Teabing from The DaVinci Code, Harry Ron and Hermoine from the Harry Potter series, etc.
Scout and Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird
The Nolan family from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind
Love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! What a wonderful cast of characters!
Anne Shirley was the first to come to mind. Also from my childhood: Lucy, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum from Narnian Chronicles, Taran from the Prydian Chronicles, Laura Ingalls, Beth from The Long Secret, Jo from Little Women, Joel from Then Again Maybe I Won’t, Piglet, Bilbo Baggins, Rose from Eight Cousins, Jansci and Kate from The SInging Tree/The Good Master, and Louis from Trumpet of the Swan. From eponymous books: Heidi, Christie, Ellen Tibbets, Ferdinand the Bull, (Understood) Betsy, Caddie Woodlawn, Lassie, and (Blueberries for) Sal.
In later years, I’ve loved Gus from The River Why, Sgt. Havers from Elizabeth George’s mystery series, Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, Gen in the Thief of Attolia series, Sam Vines from Pratchett’s Discworld series, both Dalziel and Pascoe from Reginald HIll’s mystery series, Esther Hirsch in Hesse’s Witness, Jack and Ennis from Brokeback Mountain, Sarny from Nightjohn, Tabby from Mr. Putter and Tabby, Katsa from Graceling, Estraven from Left Hand of Darkness, Rev. Clare Fergusson from Julia Spencer-Fleming’s mystery series, Mo Willems’ Gerald and PIggy…okay, I’ll stop. Great question!
Martin the Warrior from the Redwall Series was my first love. More recently, Mariam and Laila from “A Thousand Splendid Suns” have had a really big impact on me. Oh! And Buck from “The Call of the Wild”.
Hey bro, I also love the Redwall Series. 🙂 I have Mossflower and Salamandastron. 🙂
Jane Bennet from Pride & Prejudice (so much so that I’m writing a fan-fic novel from her perspective). Both Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. Amelia Bedelia from .. all of her books. Atreyu from Neverending Story. Ruby Landry from Ruby by VC Andrews. Tucker Max .. who is actually a real person and was basically just writing all the stories of his life in his multiple books — the guy is a jerk but for some reason, his stories have stuck with me. Those are just the ones off the top of my head right now!
Stanley Yelnats from Holes; Zinkoff from Loser; Rob and Willie May from The Tiger Rising
Amber APPLETON from Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick, Ivan from The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, August from Wonder by RJ Palacio, Janie and Cabel from Wake by Lisa McMann, Cassel Sharp in White Cat by Holly Black, Day and June in the Legend Series by Marie Lu, Jasper Dent in the I Hunt Killlers Trilogy, and Aria and Perry from Under the Never Sky Trilogy and lots more!
Not that I’m predictable, but…Eloise, Olivia, Ramona, Clementine. My favorite spy, Harriet. My favorite alien, J.Lo. Hermione from HP, Elizabeth Bennett from P&P. And gotta love/hate Becky from Vanity Fair.
In my youth, Tom Swift, Tarzan and John Carter were among my favorites. Some real people have also become important through books, William Friedman, T.E.Lawrence are high on that group. R.Daneel Olivaw from Asimov, and Paul Atreides (Muad’Dib) from the Herbert novels, the Virginian (no name) from Wister’s novel, Horatio Hornblower. There are just too many others, even a lot of the minor characters. I would be remiss if Renée Michel and Paloma Josse from “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” were not on the list.
Ivan from The One and Only Ivan
and Bob the dog was pretty hilarious too!
Nancy Drew hooked me into my first series. I still remember the smell of those new books and how I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next. She was such an important part of my elementary school years!
Katniss Everdeen
Tiller and Sairy from Sharon Creech’s Ruby Holler
Hattie from Hattie Big Sky and Hattie Ever After, Jack from Love That Dog, Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web, Max from Where the Wild Things Are.
I love this! Is there a limit 😉
Harry Potter, of course
Katniss Everdeen, another easy one
Lisbeth Salander aka the girl with the dragon tattoo
Finch, beautifully bipolar newcomer from All the Bright Places
Edward Tulane from the brain of the perfect Kate DiCamillo
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! and Hercule Poirot by the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie. 🙂
The first characters that popped into my head…Laura Ingalls Wilder and Hazel Grace & Augustus
OWEN MEANY
Augustus Waters from TFIOS
Hazel from Watership Down
Billy Colman from Where the Red Fern Grows
Stella from Summer of the Gypsy Moths
Deuce from Enclave
Georgina Hayes from How to Steal A Dog
Rose Howard in Rain Reign
Comfort Snowberger in Each Little Bird That Sings
Isabel in Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny
Violet Ambrose from The Body Finder
The Chatham Family from Saint Anything
I’m sure there are more!!
Atticus , Rhett Butler and Mammy ( gone with the wind )
Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)
Hermione Granger
The prince (Le Petit Prince)
Esperanza Ortega (Esperanza Rising)
Chiyo Sakamoto (Memoirs of a Geisha)
The first person I thought of was Sal Paradise, and that is interesting because I did not like the book ´On the Road´ initially when I read it. But the text has left a mark on me and I would like to share with you a very beautiful passage:
“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
Howl Jenkins and Sophie Hatter from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones
Mrs. Frisby (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh), Margaret (Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret), Chester (The Cricket in Times Square), Jack and Miss Stretchberry (Love That Dog), Trixie (Knuffle Bunny), Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye), Rhett and Scarlett (Gone with the Wind), Stargirl, and Leo Leonni’s “Frederick.” What a fun question!
Geronimo Stilton(Geronimo Stilton series)
my new favorite is Maggie from The Meaning of Maggie.
I couldn’t agree more! Love that Maggie!
Junie B. because our whole family still speaks in Junie-B. talk.
Rosalind and Batty from The Penderwicks.
Joshua and JB in The Crossover.
Fern from One Crazy Summer.
The BFG.
Has to be Milo from The Phantom Tollbooth .
I wore a green mop wig to be Anne of Green Gables for a character day. That’s how much I wanted to be her, but recently I was introduced to Joey Pigza and he will be with me forever now too!
My first thought was Jo from Little Women. My second was Piddy Sanchez from Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Then a whole bunch of names started popping into my mind. There are too many to pick just one or even two. Opal in Because of Winn Dixie can’t be forgotten along with Flora. I better stop now or the list will get out of control. There are so many characters who have made me feel and even grow and change. Thank you to the authors who share so many amazing characters with the world.
-Daisy Buchanan (for all the wrong reasons) from The Great Gatsby
-Jonas from The Giver
-Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind
-Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars
-Mr. Stevens from The Remains of the Day
-Lord Varys from The Song of Ice and Fire series
-Claireece Precious Jones from Push
Auggie from Wonder (by RJ Palacio)
I second so many of the ones listed already. Atticus and Scout Finch, Luna Lovegood and Hermione, Junior, also Huck Finn, Ponyboy, Hattie from Kirby Larson’s books.
Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gabels
Grandma Dowdel
El Deafo
Albie (from Absolutely Almost)
Billy Miller
Atticus and Scout (role model and identified with her)
Meg Murray from A Wrinkle in Time (identified totally with her)
Theo Decker from The Goldfinch (totally frustrated by his actions and still hope for his happiness)
Charlotte Doyle, Anne Shirley, Claire Abshire, Lestat, Jenny Lawson, Elinor Dashwood
Freak and Max–Freak the Mighty
Tomie–26 Fairmount Ave.
Albie–Absolutely Almost
Hattie–Hattie Big Sky
Jane Peck–Boston Jane
Tiny Cooper in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
I thought of Hermione Granger right away. I love her brains, and her struggles with her hair :), and the challenges of girl friendships.
And Jo March. And Elinor Dashwood.
And Augustus Waters, I cried buckets over that book.
There’s too many to name, really, but those are who popped into my head right away
There are so many! I saw Frankie Landau-Banks came up already. Love that girl. I also really love Evie O’Neill from Libba Bray’s Diviners series right now. Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries was my fictional best friend during my teens.
I loved reading all your answers.
Some other characters that stayed with me:
Frances from A Birthday for Frances
Veronica Ganz from Amy & Laura and Veronica Ganz
Dwight & Harvey from The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Louise from Jacob Have I Loved
Bud from Bud Not Buddy
Owl from Owl in Love
Tessa Grey, William Herondale- The Infernal Devices
Holden- Catcher in the rye
Dumbledore-Harry Potter
Emma Bovary- Madame Bovary
+many others 😀
Meg Murray from A Wrinkle in Time. The day I met Meg was the first time I found myself in the character of a book.
Bambi has to be one of my top characters from childhood, not sure why it’s just one of those that has always stuck with me.
Also, Sophie Amundsen from ‘Sophie’s World’.
There’s too many books/character’s too narrow it down generally though!
Halt from The Rangers Apprentice. He’s so funny and sarcastic!
Amelia Bedelia… and Frog and Toad.
Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock Holmes
Summer from Wonder
Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter
Ruby and Clancy from Ruby Redfort
Sidney and Amanda from Grantchester Mysteries