Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

I always wished Pippi Longstocking lived next door, with her horse who slept in the house. How about you?

I loved Pippi Longstocking!

I always thought Ramona Quimby would be a fun one to hang around with as well.

Colin, from The Secret Garden.

I think this is the first time I've ever been able to answer this sort of question so immediately & confidently. Good topic! :)

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Colin, from The Secret Garden.

I think this is the first time I've ever been able to answer this sort of question so immediately & confidently. Good topic! :)"

Colin! Wow, what a great choice!

I'm not sure I ever thought about having the characters living next door (maybe because there was no next door?). I just pretended I was them.

Encyclopedia Brown might have been fun too.

I'd actually like to have the main character, Mickey, from my book living next door. Also Encyclopedia Brown, Joe Sherlock, and Gregor, the Overlander.

If I couldn't be friends with Colin, my second choice would be the Moffats & their cousins.
The Middle Moffat
Ginger Pye.

Honey Wheeler. If she lived next door, that would mean I was Trixie Belden. And I'd live next to her 'dreamy' adopted brother, Jim. (*sigh* My tween-age memories are coming back full-force!!)

Anne of Green Gables.

@J.Y. - this is the second time in a week I have run into a mention of Trixie Belden. It's a series I hadn't heard much about since - but I read all of them at least twice in my school library.

I'm going to have to go with Luna Lovegood. Even if I am a muggle.

I had my pet favorites when I was growing up. Would have loved to live next door to Encyclopedia Brown or Harriet, the Spy. Today, as a 50-year-old, I'd love to live next to Joe Sherlock, any of the Harry Potter kids, or Gregor, the Overlander.

Mike Castleton or Percy Jackson. Hmmm... well, maybe not Percy. Then there would be constant monster attacks. My boys would love it though.

I just enjoyed Boys and Girls Forever: Children's Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter and realized a mistake I made earlier. While I would enjoy being friends with Colin from The Secret Garden, the boy I would most like to have as a neighbor is Dickon. And his family.

I would like to live next to Elizabeth Allen from the naughtiest girl series .

Tom Swift! Or Danny Dunn. Or the Boxcar children...or Nancy Drew...or...lol, I need a neighborhood to answer that question!

I wanted everyone in the Famos Five to live next to me!

My teen son says he thinks it would be fun to live next door to Ramona Quimby.

Brains Benton! I only ever read one of Charles Spain Verral's books, "The Case of the Missing Message", but I knew it backwards and forwards. What a fun kid to have around!

Rebecca, from Rebecca and the Strangest Garden on Earth

Laura Ingalls, for sure. She was my imaginary friend throughout my entire childhood.

Artemis Fowl - then I'd be rich or he'd make me rich. LOL But no to HP and Percy J, far too dangerous. And definately no to Bella Swan and the legions of Vampires out to kill her.

The Famous Five - en masse. They might have invited me to go to Kirrin Island on an adventure... and they always seemed to have delicious picnics and fine weather!

Growing up, I was jealous of Anne of Green Gables that she had a neighbor like Diana Barry (and could flash lights in a secret code at night).

LR wrote: "Growing up, I was jealous of Anne of Green Gables that she had a neighbor like Diana Barry (and could flash lights in a secret code at night)."
Good point. My best friend lived on the other side of the island, so no signals and no running over to tell a secret.

When I was littler, I would have defiantly wanted to live next door to Pippi Longstocking!

J.Y. wrote: "Honey Wheeler. If she lived next door, that would mean I was Trixie Belden. And I'd live next to her 'dreamy' adopted brother, Jim. (*sigh* My tween-age memories are coming back full-force!!)"

Yes! More than anything I wanted to be a BWG and have the Belden family be mine.

But I also loved Johnny Tremain and I wanted to be able to save some lives from that book, I'd rewrite big sections where I became a character from the world outside their book and told them how to save themselves

Oh Dixie, that's so wonderful of you. Most kids are, naturally, fairly self-centered. I know my nomination here (Dickon from the Secret Garden) is - I just want to tag along when he visits wild animals and goes home to dinner with his family.

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Oh Dixie, that's so wonderful of you. Most kids are, naturally, fairly self-centered. I know my nomination here (Dickon from the Secret Garden) is - I just want to tag along when he visits wild a…"


Yeah, Dickon and his sister and Mom. What a family there too.

A lot of great moms in MG lit. As I am now a 50-y.o. Mom, I have to envy them. I am certainly nothing like so wise and calm (though probably older than Dickon's mom, or Marmee or any of those. I fear I will never grow up).

I'd want both of Pat Murphy's Wild Girls. I love them dearly.

This is such an exciting discussion! So many new authors and characters I never read!!! I see I will have to scour the second-hand bookshops as many of these books are probably out of print. Tally ho!

Rebecca wrote: "A lot of great moms in MG lit. As I am now a 50-y.o. Mom, I have to envy them. I am certainly nothing like so wise and calm (though probably older than Dickon's mom, or Marmee or any of those. I..."

You are funny, Rebecca! I loved Marmee et al when I was young, but now I find them rather boring. I'm in my fifties too, not very wise either! But I'd rather be an understanding, fun mom than a calm, wise one. Do you know of any good, fun moms in children's fiction? Say someone like Kate in "Kate and Allie"? I can think of a lot of fun fathers, but moms always seem to be a bit boring! Writers in this group, please take note!

I can think of some fun moms, but they're all dead. . . :D

Rebecca wrote: "I can think of some fun moms, but they're all dead. . . :D"

Hee hee! (Everyone make sure you check out our "dead parent society" thread ; )

I LOVED the mother in Wonder, but she would be in the "wise Marmee" category. There was the "perfect" mother in Savvy. Mrs. Frisby (in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) was heroic, and actually served successfully as the protagonist in this children's novel. And the ever-loyal scientist mother in A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite characters (she stirred her soup on a bunsen burner -- I think about her every time I make soup for my family).

Wise, smart, dedicated, brave -- but nope, can't think of a single mother whose main personality trait is "fun." There's a whole plot idea here for someone!

M.G. wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "I can think of some fun moms, but they're all dead. . . :D"

Hee hee! (Everyone make sure you check out our "dead parent society" thread ; )"

Sinister!

M.G. wrote: "I LOVED the mother in Wonder, but she would be in the "wise Marmee" category. There was the "perfect" mother in Savvy. Mrs. Frisby (in [book:Mrs. Frisby and the Rats ..."

That's what I thought. Do they not exist or are they hard to write about, or what? Have to try this!

I wonder. I will have to look at more contemporary lit, but I am thinking that those classics were setting up a model for us females. I know Alcott was. Yet I would swear I know of some who are impulsive and fun--and yet: I can't put a finger on any.

Being a Mom is hard work. Maybe there's not a lot left for fun. ;)

Actually, this is an interesting question. I'm beginning to think I will have to write one. It would probably be easier for me to write a believable fun mom than a believable wise and calm one, as I myself am at times fun, but seldom wise or calm.

I recall reading research awhile back that more men than women are rated as being funny.

Also, I usually do find that fathers will be more likely to say "why not" to kid's creative (but crazy) ideas than mothers.

There are fun mom stand ins in the nanny stories of Mary Poppins and Nanny McFee

Though Poppins is really pretty strict.

LR wrote: "Growing up, I was jealous of Anne of Green Gables that she had a neighbor like Diana Barry (and could flash lights in a secret code at night)."

I second that!

The antique shop owner, Mr. Gruber from the Paddington books. (Not Mr. Curry, for sure!)

I know my daughter would probably like Greg from diary of a wimpy kid next door. It's the only series she'll read.

The BFG!

Pippi would be fun but I'd have to go with Anne.

I would have gotten on well with Anne Shirley.

What a fun thread! I didn't discover Anne of Green Gables until I was a teen, so as a middle grader, I'd probably have chosen Laura Ingalls. I'd still choose her today, actually. Can you imagine living next to Pippi as an adult? :P

ooh, Laura Ingalls would be a good choice, too, as long as I didn't have to live in De Smet, ND to do it! Pippi next door would be best when one was a child.

You know who I would REALLY have liked to live next to when I was a kid? Paul and Maureen from Misty of Chincoteague. I was so horse crazy, and also an Islander who liked beaches, so being with them would have made me very happy!