Top Ten Tuesday (27)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Characters I Want to Adopt and Shower With Love

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!

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So, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday could be a bunch of things, one of which is a FREEBIE! And the reason I chose this topic is because I often find myself thinking this exact thing–“I want to adopt (INSERT NAME HERE) and SQUISH them with hugs!”–when reading about particularly heartbreaking, adorable, tough kids in the books I read. If they’re having a hard time, I feel like my maternal instinct kicks in and I want to give them a safe, happy place to live. Or sometimes they’re just legit cutie patooties and I get all “I want to give them the SMOOSHES all the time!” Basically, these are just 10 of my favorite  kid characters from books who I think are spectacular and who captured my heart. 

Batty from The Penderwicks. Because OBVIOUSLY. Batty is the cutie-patootiest kid I’ve ever read about. She’s quiet and sweet and she just SQUEEZES your heart because she’s just so…SQUISHY! Like, I want to pick up her and snuggle with her all the time. It’s not like she doesn’t have a family who loves her, though, so that’s good. But I love Batty to death. 

Conor from A Monster Calls. CONOR BREAKS MY HEART A MILLION TIMES. Seriously. His life is pretty sad and heartbreaking, and the way he tries SO HARD to deal with it just slays me. He is definitely a kid who needs the hugs, especially because I feel like he wouldn’t always want them or know what to do if someone gave him one. While I was reading A MONSTER CALLS I was giving him HUGE, bone-crushing hugs pretty much every page, he’s that awesome and lovable. CONOR, ILY!!

Teddy from If I Stay. So this one is tricky because, well, I don’t want to spoil it, but actually adopting Teddy would be HARD. But that doesn’t mean that he makes my heart explode any less. EXPLODE. I can’t think of sweet, blonde kiddos in footie pajamas without thinking of dear Teddy, bestest little brother in the land. 

Arya Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire series. Arya, you’re my GIRL. I would adopt you, but I don’t think you could give two shits, and THAT’S why I would totally take you in. Because you know what I think? I think that, even though times are tough for the Starks right now, that’s about to turn around REAL soon, and I think that you’re going to be a big reason for it. Keep your chin up, kid. Starks never say die. 

Jeffrey Tifton from The Penderwicks. JEFFERY TIFTON. Coolest, best, friendliest, sweetest, AWESOMEST kid on the bookish planet. His home life isn’t the best, though, so I’m thankful that the Penderwicks came along and adopted him unofficially in my stead. Jeffrey deserves lots of love and good things, and the Penderwicks are awesome at both. 

Harry Potter, no other info necessary. I’m not sure that I would be an adequate substitute for Hogwarts and the Weasley’s, but I remember the first time I read HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE I wanted to slap all the Dursleys in their fat faces and take Harry away from that heinous cupboard under the stairs. Under the stairs! UGH. 

Odd from Odd and the Frost Giants. Sigh. Vikings, guys. Vikings and Norse gods and a young boy who is pretty much snakebitten who has to rescue his village–and Asgard, home of the gods–from the Frost Giants, who are threatening to never let the ground thaw out and turn the world permanently to winter. Odd is such a great character. The back cover describes him as “cheerful and infuriating and clever.” YES PLEASE. 

Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web. What’s that? You thought I was going to be talking about KIDS from books to adopt? Well, I did say that. But I make the rules! And I say that I can adopt any cute, talking piglets that I choose! Obviously I would choose Wilbur, best pig there ever was or will be. 

Calpurnia from The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Calpurnia would be fun to have around. We have lots in common: We like being outside. We don’t like doing girly stuff, like sewing. We want to learn things. Sometimes our siblings make us crazy but we love them always. You know. Callie and I would have a great time. And I think she and Arya would be BFFs. 

Riddle from I’ll Be There. Oh my goodness, if there is a kid who just killed me with his heart and strength and bittersweet young life, it would be Riddle. Or maybe Conor (yup, that one from up top there). They’re tied, I think. Riddle, thankfully, has his brother, Sam. Honestly, though? I’d probably adopt them both to drown them in hugs and love. But Riddle…GAH! I’m squeezing him right now in my mind (but not too tight because he has asthma).