1. Hermione Granger- Yes. I know. I should be slapped. This is SUCH a cliche, it's not even funny. But the thing is, I basically am her. I am an insufferable know-it-all. If my hair doesn't try to kill me at least once a week, I get suspicious. I've read and re-read tons of books voluntarily that most kids only read for school. And I have Muggle parentage. So there.
2. Elizabeth Bennet- Of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, for those of you who don't know. She's awesome. I totally agree with J.K. Rowling here: "Jane Austen is the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire."
3. Flavia de Luce- Of Buckshaw, on the outskirts of Bishop's Lacey. She's a precocious 11-year-old girl living in England in 1950. She is also an amateur chemist, likes to fantasize about poisoning her sisters, and has a nasty habit of finding corpses. She investigates the murders, and in the process winds up getting herself into scrapes and getting on the Inspector's last nerve.
4. Rose Casson- Rose is the youngest child in the Casson family, the main characters in the Casson family books written by the brilliant Hilary McKay (Saffy's Angel, Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After, Forever Rose). She's a fiery little thing with hilarious little-kid thought processes that usually wind up making more sense than grown-up ones. I think she's especially wonderful in Indigo's Star, my favorite book in the series.
5. Meggie Folchart- Of the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke. Her dad is a bookbinder, and they both have the power to read allowed and bring things in and out of books. It's a pretty cool super-power, but they both grow weary of it, especially since Meggie's mother was lost in the Inkworld for nine years. Meggie is clever, fierce, and well-read: everything a heroine should be.
6. Jo March- Ever since I was twelve, I have wanted to BE Jo. She's the best- that is to say, the most enlightened- of the March sisters, and a killer writer to boot. What could be better?
7. Piper McCloud- Of The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester. I read this book very recently, and it quickly became one of my favorites. Piper is, naturally, the girl who could fly. She's hardworking and what she lacks in brains she makes up for with optimism and sheer cheek. Not that she's dumb- I wouldn't waste my time on anyone whom I felt was unintelligent (which is why I never finished Gone With the Wind). But as Hermione says in Philosopher's Stone: "There are more important things: friendship, and bravery." Piper has both.
8. Scout Finch- Of To Kill a Mockingbird by the brilliant Harper Lee. Scout is a spunky six-year-old who loves to read, much to the consternation of her teachers. A total Thirties rebel.
9.Coraline Jones- Of Coraline by Neil Gaiman. She's an explorer, and she defeats an evil witch who lives through a tunnel behind a bricked-up door in her drawing room. Grown-ups tend to get her name wrong.
10. Matilda Wormwood- Of Matilda by the wonderful Roald Dahl. She's a five-year-old super-genius who creates a hilarious disciplinary system for her odious parents and can move things with her eyes.
11. Meg Murray- Of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. She is a fourteen-year-old girl with a severe case of Bad Hair, Myopia, and Social Awkwardness. But it isn't really her fault that she has issues. It's the Establishment. Meg goes on an adventure through the universe to rescue her dad from a dystopia called Camazotz. (I hope I spelled it right.)
12. Charlotte- Of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. "It is not often that one comes across a person who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
13. Sammy Keyes- Of the Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin van Draanen. She's a spunky amateur investigator in high tops who lives with her grandmother illegally in the Senior High-Rise. Her mom is Lady Lana, and she basically ditched Sammy for Hollywood. Sammy is also a catcher for one of the community softball teams.
14. Mina Reese- Of Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande. Mina used to be part of a group of religious extremists. During her freshman year, she becomes an outsider, and with the help of her lab partner, she fights back when her former youth group begins protesting the teaching of Evolution in their school science class. In the process, she has to re-evaluate her own beliefs based on what she knows to be true, what her old friends and parents used to tell her, and what she learns from the new group of friends she's made.
15. Petrova Fossil- Of Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield. Petrova and her two sisters, Pauline and Posy, were adopted by a professor known as G.U.M. (or Great-Uncle Matthew). When the Fossil girls' guardians begin to run out of money, they are begin attending the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training in the hopes that, when they are old enough for a license, they will be able to earn some money for their families. Petrova is the least enthusiastic of the three- she's more interested in cars and airplanes than dancing and acting. Definitely the cleverest of the three.
THE END! :)
