Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Childhood Characters You'd Like to Revisit as an Adult

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Childhood Characters You'd Like to Revisit as an Adult - meaning characters who were children that I'd like to see as adults.  This was one of those topics that I thought was going to be really hard but once I started thinking about it I could've easily had a top 20!

1.  The Melendys from Elizabeth Enright's The Four Story Mistake and others - I have no idea how many times I read this book as a child but it was definitely one of my favorites.  I'd love to know what Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver are doing now.  Did Mona continue on her path to fame?  What did the rest end up doing?  Do they still have the Four Story Mistake?

2.  Rilla Blythe from Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery - When we leave her Rilla has become a young woman and survived triumph and tragedy on the homefront during World War 1.  She's grown up quite a bit from the shallow vain girl she was at the beginning.  I'd love to know what happens next.  How does World War II affect her?

3.  Nancy Drew - Nancy Drew isn't a child when we know her but I want to know what Nancy is doing at 40.  Is she a private detective?  A lawyer like her dad?  The neighborhood gossip?  Has she had enough saving the world and is now spending her days in sweat pants and making fun of TV detectives for being idiots?  Did she marry Ned?  So many questions!

4.  Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden - I'd love to read a novella about Mary as an adult.  What did she end up doing?  What happened to the garden?  I'm not sure I want a full length book but I'd love to check in.

5.  Charles Wallace from A Wrinkle in Time - This may actually exist since I just recently found out that A Wrinkle in Time was the beginning of a series but the first book is all I've read and it was one of my favorites.  I've always wondered what happened to Charles Wallace.

6.  The members of The Babysitter's Club - I loved these books!  I can't remember how far I got into them before I grew out of them but I read them all for awhile.  I was surprised a few years ago when I saw one of the later books in the series by how many people were in the club and how many names I didn't know.  I'm talking about the ORIGINAL members and Dawn.  What happened to them?  Is Kristy running the world?  Is Claudia an artist?  Did they stay friends?

7.  The children from The Story-Girl - The Story Girl is probably my favorite L.M. Montgomery book.  The King children are so vivid and entertaining.  If you watched the Disney channel show Avonlea this is the book the series was based off of.  We do get hints as to what happens when the children become adults throughout this book and the next one but I'd love to see them together.

8.  Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - This is another one that actually might exist.  Somehow I missed the fact that this was a book until not too long ago and then gobbled this up in one sitting last year.  I know there's at least one Charlie book out there but haven't take the time to find out more about it.  

9.  Julian and Portia from Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright - I didn't actually read this book as a child but I absolutely wish I had.  I would've have adored it.  There's a whole community of abandoned lake houses and the children get the run of them.  There is a sequel to Gone Away that is not as good but is so what I wanted it to be that it feels self-indulgent but I'd love to see what the children are like as adults and if they still have ties to Gone Away Lake.

10. Max from Where the Wild Things Are - Does Max really learn his lesson and keep from gnashing his teeth and growling at his mother forever?  Does he ever wish he could go back to Where the Wild Things Are?

What childhood characters would you like to revisit?


16 comments:

  1. Oh these are all good. I read all of Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Hardy Boys and of course Anne of Green Gables as a child before moving on to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hobbit and trips to middle earth.

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  2. Rilla Blythe is awesome! I keep meaning to reread her book, but never get to it. Maybe this year!

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  3. I'd love to get through all of the Nancy Drew books; I don't think I've read them all. I'd also like to reread all of L.M. Montgomery's books.

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  4. Fun topic! Nancy is a great pick, and maybe the Hardys too (what did they end up doing)? And Charlie- is he running the chocolate factory? I loved those books as a kid. Maybe the Boxcar kids too- and I wouldn't mind checking in on the Narnia kids as adults. :)

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  5. Max!!!! Oh my gosh, I would love to see Max as an adult. That would be awesome!

    I haven't read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I do have a Roald Dahl character on my list. Matilda!

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  6. Oh, how did I forget the Melendys?!!! Yes, absolutely I want to reconnect with them as adults. And Rilla, too. Mary Lennox made my list, as did Charles Wallace. And I need to re-read Gone-Away Lake, because I haven't read it in probably 40-odd years, and I've largely forgotten everything except that I really liked it. Wonderful list, Katherine!

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  7. Oh, I love your list. I would also like to know what Mary Lennox and the Babysitters are up to. I've never read the first book on your list, but now I want to!

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  8. Oh. My. Word. I wondered whether anybody would know the Melendys when I put them at the top of my list today - and here you with them at the top of yours!! http://www.exurbanis.com/archives/10446 How wonderful!

    You have a terrific round-up here!

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  9. You keep making me want to read The Four Story Mistake! I also would love to know about Mary Lennox. You do get more of Charles Wallace in the Time Quintet books but not as much as Meg and Calvin. The last book features the next generation in college. The sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory takes place immediately afterwards, so Charlie is still the same age. I would be wonderful to see him passing the factory on to someone else, and seeing how and why he does it. Fabulous post. :)

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  10. I am pretty sure I read all of the Elizabeth Enright books when I was a girl. I had to go and see what I could find out about her since you mentioned a couple of her books....Her uncle was Frank Lloyd Wright! That explains a privileged background that would allow her to write and illustrate children's books. Possibly committed suicide....I think one or two of her books may be on our 1001 Children's Books You Must Read list.

    Thanks for the prompt that made me look into her life!

    http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-library-conference-aka-paradise-on.html

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  11. Nancy Drew would definitely be an interesting one to revisit. I'd have to have the Hardy Boys as a comparison though. :)

    Check out my TTT.

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  12. Your list is lovely. I also thought of Charlie and the chocolate factory, but rather used James and the giant peach as I had more "childhood" memories of that one. I only read Charlie a couple of years ago.

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  13. Your list is lovely. I also thought of Charlie and the chocolate factory, but rather used James and the giant peach as I had more "childhood" memories of that one. I only read Charlie a couple of years ago.

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  14. I love the premise for this week's TTT - I don't participate myself, whilst I love lists, whenever I try a particular topic it usually ends up as Top Two Tuesday! - however I do love exploring all the variety in posts. This week's topic is proving for a lot of variety, especially depending on age etc.

    Anyway, you've got a great bunch of characters to return to. I definitely agree with you on Charlie, in fact any character from Roald Dahl's children's books would be fun to return to I think.

    Reading With Jade

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  15. Lovely list! I would love to see Max and Charlie as adults. Nancy Drew would be pretty awesome, too!

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  16. Perhaps the Waterbury children from The Railway Children and Sarah Crewe from A Little Princess.

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