There was also a list of favourites villains too, which was headed by the most evil of all, Lord Voldemort, unsurprisingly followed closely by the dreaded Professor Umbridge! Not all the villains were Harry Potter characters however, classic baddies such as Cruella De Vil were also featured.
As for heroes, Harry Potter characters still reigned supreme, with Harry topping the poll, and Hermione coming in 3rd. The list also featured the lovable characters Winnie the Pooh, a favourite of mine, and Bilbo Baggins too.
These were all good choices, and it made me think about who I would choose as my favourite heroes and villains of children's lit. So here are my top 5:
Heroes
1. Burglar Bill (Burglar Bill, by Janet and Allen Alburg) for saving the baby, giving up his life of crime and becoming a baker!
2. Bobby (The Railway Children by E.Nesbitt) for being so incredibly brave!
3. Harry Potter for being, well, Harry Potter I suppose!
4. Winnie-the-Pooh for being such a loyal and wonderful friend to Piglet.
5. Matilda for showing that knowledge is power! Plus she plays some pretty good tricks on horrible people too!
1. Mr Wormwood (Matilda by Roald Dahl) for being so ignorant of the joys of books and learning, and he's just plain nasty!
2. Bill Sikes (Oliver Twist by Dickens) because he's really scary!
3. Bellatrix le Strange for having no remorse at all! She's just plain evil!
4. The 'charming gentleman', or sly fox (The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter) for persuading poor, simple Jemima to nest in his shed so he could plot to eat her!
5. Dawn (Sophie's Snail by Dick King Smith) for being a spoil brat and stamping on Sophie's beloved wood louse! Cruel!
I'm sure you can all think of lots more!
You'll find the full National Book Tokens list here.
Thanks for reading X
I love this!
ReplyDeleteHeroes and villains is a subject in kids literature that I get so excited about! :D
I completely agree with you about Mr Wormwood, I also think the Trunchball would make my list :P She is one fearsome lady!
Bill Sikes is utterly terrifying. I would really hate to be under his roof! Eep :( He's so volatile and violent. Bellatrix is one of my favourite villains! :P She truly is wild and utterly mad, a brilliant villain ^_^
The witch of the waste in 'Howls moving castle' the book, is also pretty bad too! She's not truly terrifying, but I did enjoy her baddie-value.
I feel like the key to a well written children's novel is a really solid and detestable villain :P
I think my favourite hero is R from the novel 'Warm bodies' although that's teenager lit rather than Middle grade :P I do like Huckleberry Finn too! His name is name is just adorable ^_^
Sarah xxo
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! You're my first! :D
I totally agree about Trunchbull! She would be number 6! I had a teacher once who reminded me of her! :/
I love the heroes and villains topic too so when I saw the article I couldn't resist writing about it! :)
I need to read 'Howls Moving Castle', I really enjoyed the film :) I shall track it down, and 'Warm Bodies' too if you recommend it's villainy!
:) xxo