It's a Hardback Life

Ten Child/Young Adult Characters You’d Love to Revisit as Adults

Attempting to put this list together has shown me how very few books I’ve read with child or young adult protagonists whose adult lives I never see. Or whose adult lives I would care much about, honestly. I don’t think I’ll make it to ten, but here goes:

Junior, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I would really like to know if everything Junior went through turned out OK. Did his education off the res give him the leg-up he was hoping for? Did his dad ever deal with his drinking problem? Did his family ever catch a break?

Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. For the sake of this list, I would like to imagine they didn’t die. How long would it have taken them to realize they made a terrible mistake and that declaring undying love for someone and tying yourself to them for life before you’ve even finished puberty (or known them longer than a week) is really, really dumb?

Matilda Wormwood, Matilda by Roald Dahl. You just know Matilda grew up to do amazing things. Did she keep her powers? Did she outgrow them? Did she grow up to be the world’s coolest librarian or did she start writing her own books? Personally, I’d like to think she grew up to be much like Mara Wilson, the actress that played her in the film.

Sophronia from the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger. Thanks to the series being part of the Parasol Protectorate universe, we do see a couple of the girls all grown up. But what about Sophronia? A whole series of her adventures as a badass secret agent would be so much fun, and I would love to see her meet other characters from the Parasol events (besides the ones she went to school with).

Eleanor and Park from the eponymous novel by Rainbow Rowell. JUST TELL ME IT WORKS OUT. Theirs is perhaps the only adolescent romance I’ve ever rooted for in the long term.

Well, I think that’s the best I can do. It’s a bit of a conundrum: if an author creates a really compelling character, it’s natural to want to see more of them. And yet, if they tell the story right, they rarely leave me feeling like I need more. Sometimes a great character is great specifically because their story arc fits perfectly, and I simply don’t need anything else.

(Original Top Ten Tuesday concept, topic, and logo via The Broke and the Bookish)