Well-Written Child Characters?
September 17, 2022 9:56 AM Subscribe
As part of an attempt to address weaknesses in my (fiction) writing, I'm gathering examples of "good" writing in various categories that I can dissect, or at least use to better understand where I may be going wrong. In that vein: what are your best examples of well-written/realistic child characters, be it in short story form, novels, films, etc?
Realistic dialogue for characters under the age of, say, 13 is definitely a weak point of mine, but even things like internal motivations and appropriate reactions to events are a struggle for me... I know that spending time around kids is probably the best way to solve this, but all of my nieces and nephews are far enough away that any sort of regular interaction is difficult in the best of times.
Realistic dialogue for characters under the age of, say, 13 is definitely a weak point of mine, but even things like internal motivations and appropriate reactions to events are a struggle for me... I know that spending time around kids is probably the best way to solve this, but all of my nieces and nephews are far enough away that any sort of regular interaction is difficult in the best of times.
Anything by Beverly Cleary, but especially the Ramona series.
posted by yankeefog at 10:19 AM on September 17, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by yankeefog at 10:19 AM on September 17, 2022 [16 favorites]
When I was a child, I found the children that Diana Wynne Jones wrote completely plausible.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:23 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:23 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
I think you're going to have the best luck with children's books. I find most portrayals of kids in adult literature pretty weird honestly. (I'm a K-8 teacher, so I spend a lot of time with kids!)
I like the above suggestions (I'm always surprised by how much kids still love Ramona). I also think Daniel Pinkwater's wide-eyed protagonists act exactly how kids would act in some really wild situations; "Ducks", "The Hoboken Chicken Emergency", and "Lizard Music" have particularly resonated with 3rd/4th grade classes.
More recently, the main characters in "The First Rule of Punk", "Awkward", and "Stargazing" struck me as really realistic, but they're adolescents (probably around 12/13). "Ghost" (Reynolds) is good too, as is "The Thing About Jellyfish" (about grief); "See You in the Cosmos" has a really specific and (IMO) authentically kid-like voice. I think Erin Entrada Kelly is writing spectacularly good and real stuff for kids.
If you want a fanfic rec memail me.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 10:23 AM on September 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
I like the above suggestions (I'm always surprised by how much kids still love Ramona). I also think Daniel Pinkwater's wide-eyed protagonists act exactly how kids would act in some really wild situations; "Ducks", "The Hoboken Chicken Emergency", and "Lizard Music" have particularly resonated with 3rd/4th grade classes.
More recently, the main characters in "The First Rule of Punk", "Awkward", and "Stargazing" struck me as really realistic, but they're adolescents (probably around 12/13). "Ghost" (Reynolds) is good too, as is "The Thing About Jellyfish" (about grief); "See You in the Cosmos" has a really specific and (IMO) authentically kid-like voice. I think Erin Entrada Kelly is writing spectacularly good and real stuff for kids.
If you want a fanfic rec memail me.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 10:23 AM on September 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
The thing is, books with kid characters are written by adults trying to remember their own childhoods. Also, kids are just people and vary as much as adults do.
What might help is to remember that kids are people who are smaller, weaker, and less well-informed than the adult people around them. So that affects how they think and act.
I say all that because some of my favorite kid characters weren't particularly "childish" but were fully formed people who just had different resources and abilities due to age.
The one I really love is Dicey Tillerman in Homecoming by Cynthia Voight. She is smart but also ignorant because of her age, and her siblings also seem realistic to me. And it's a great story, if a little dated now.
posted by emjaybee at 10:25 AM on September 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
What might help is to remember that kids are people who are smaller, weaker, and less well-informed than the adult people around them. So that affects how they think and act.
I say all that because some of my favorite kid characters weren't particularly "childish" but were fully formed people who just had different resources and abilities due to age.
The one I really love is Dicey Tillerman in Homecoming by Cynthia Voight. She is smart but also ignorant because of her age, and her siblings also seem realistic to me. And it's a great story, if a little dated now.
posted by emjaybee at 10:25 AM on September 17, 2022 [6 favorites]
Lynda Barry’s comics are the high bar for me personally. Her writing is not for kids technically, but it centers on the perspective of characters between 9 and 15 or so, depending on the book or the story arc. A sample.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:28 AM on September 17, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 10:28 AM on September 17, 2022 [7 favorites]
Agree with everyone about Ramona Quimby.
Margaret Simon from Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Harriet M. Welch from Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy
Lewis Barnavelt from the books by John Bellairs.
I'm realizing that all of these fictional kids have problems/struggles with adults and socializing. They are portrayed as whole humans with difficult emotions.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 10:42 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Margaret Simon from Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Harriet M. Welch from Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy
Lewis Barnavelt from the books by John Bellairs.
I'm realizing that all of these fictional kids have problems/struggles with adults and socializing. They are portrayed as whole humans with difficult emotions.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 10:42 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Bridge to Teribithia. Also definitely agree, Harriet the Spy.
posted by happy_cat at 10:55 AM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by happy_cat at 10:55 AM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Judging by how much Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid appear to resonate with the boys, I’d say they are worth checking out! My Big Nate-obsessed boy also really enjoyed Beverly Cleary. So I think they are touching some kind of fundamental boy-sense.
posted by haptic_avenger at 12:03 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by haptic_avenger at 12:03 PM on September 17, 2022
Since you asked for film recs you might check out the following:
Boyhood
Mad Hot Ballroom
Spellbound
The original 80s era Degrassi the kids were all non-actors and are refreshing to watch.
posted by brookeb at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2022
Boyhood
Mad Hot Ballroom
Spellbound
The original 80s era Degrassi the kids were all non-actors and are refreshing to watch.
posted by brookeb at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2022
Oh! "Kids all non-actors" makes me think of Outnumbered, where a great deal of improvisation was involved, and the result is something that feels (and is) remarkably real. Not sure how readily available it is outside the UK, but if you can track it down, it's brilliant.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:09 PM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:09 PM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ravi, in Games at Twilight, a short story by Anita Desai.
posted by freethefeet at 2:15 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by freethefeet at 2:15 PM on September 17, 2022
I've always thought the kids, and family dynamics in general, are pretty realistic in most Steven Spielberg movies. Poltergeist and Close Encounters come to mind immediately.
posted by phunniemee at 3:22 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by phunniemee at 3:22 PM on September 17, 2022
The novel "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave had a 4 year boy character that I was struck by. The book is not about him. He is a side character, but when I read it my 3rd child was 5, so I knew an accurate 4 year old when I saw one.
Later I read an interview with the author and he talked out spending a very long time listening to his own four year old and taking notes to capture what a real 4 year old is like
posted by Jenny'sCricket at 3:44 PM on September 17, 2022
Later I read an interview with the author and he talked out spending a very long time listening to his own four year old and taking notes to capture what a real 4 year old is like
posted by Jenny'sCricket at 3:44 PM on September 17, 2022
Seconding Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume and Lynda Barry and adding The Everlasting Story of Nory by Nicholson Baker.
posted by Redstart at 3:58 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by Redstart at 3:58 PM on September 17, 2022
It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember being impressed by the depiction of children in Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones, about the series of murders of Black children in Atlanta in 1979-1981. Jones is writing about children who were the age she was growing up in Atlanta when the murders took place. The book is in three parts, each focused primarily on a different child.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara also focuses on children living through a time when children are disappearing, this time in India. The main character is a nine-year-old boy named Jai. It's just generally a wonderful book.
Obviously, neither of these is what you would call a light read. You didn't specify what genre you are working in, but I hope these are helpful.
posted by FencingGal at 4:16 PM on September 17, 2022
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara also focuses on children living through a time when children are disappearing, this time in India. The main character is a nine-year-old boy named Jai. It's just generally a wonderful book.
Obviously, neither of these is what you would call a light read. You didn't specify what genre you are working in, but I hope these are helpful.
posted by FencingGal at 4:16 PM on September 17, 2022
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers is a brief, insightful novel from 1946.
posted by 4th number at 4:21 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by 4th number at 4:21 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Y'all are awesome! Looks like I've got a lot of things to read and watch...
Toodles, I remember seeing Diary posters when that movie came out, and heard good things... I've got the first book on the way, as well as Tales. Definitely appreciate that they're more realistic/less rose-colored than some.
I went ahead and ordered the Romona box sets, since there seems to be a pretty good consensus on them--I'm a little surprised I don't remember ever reading them, but after looking through some of her other books, I do recall Ribsy and the Ralph S. Mouse books, and enjoying them. (And ripping off the plot of Ribsy for my own short story in... first grade?)
ManyLeggedCreature I don't know how I've never read her work... I love Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, so thanks for the recommendation/reminder to read that! (And her other works) I've also found copies of the four Outnumbered seasons that happened to fall off the back of a truck...
goodbyewaffles, those all sound great! Especially See You in the Cosmos--that hits so many of my "read this now" triggers that even if I weren't doing this to try to better my own writing, I would add it to my library.
emjaybee, that's totally fair... I think that's a mental shift that I have to make, and hopefully all of these recommendations will help...
RobinofFrocksley, I absolutely loved John Bellairs' Johnny Dixon books, so I'll have to grab the Lewis Barnavelt ones as well... I remember Johnny being a very realistic character--intelligent but (to emjaybee's point) limited by his resources/abilities, and with believable flaws.
brookeb and phunniemee I've got those on my list now!
posted by boisterousBluebird at 4:25 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Toodles, I remember seeing Diary posters when that movie came out, and heard good things... I've got the first book on the way, as well as Tales. Definitely appreciate that they're more realistic/less rose-colored than some.
I went ahead and ordered the Romona box sets, since there seems to be a pretty good consensus on them--I'm a little surprised I don't remember ever reading them, but after looking through some of her other books, I do recall Ribsy and the Ralph S. Mouse books, and enjoying them. (And ripping off the plot of Ribsy for my own short story in... first grade?)
ManyLeggedCreature I don't know how I've never read her work... I love Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, so thanks for the recommendation/reminder to read that! (And her other works) I've also found copies of the four Outnumbered seasons that happened to fall off the back of a truck...
goodbyewaffles, those all sound great! Especially See You in the Cosmos--that hits so many of my "read this now" triggers that even if I weren't doing this to try to better my own writing, I would add it to my library.
emjaybee, that's totally fair... I think that's a mental shift that I have to make, and hopefully all of these recommendations will help...
RobinofFrocksley, I absolutely loved John Bellairs' Johnny Dixon books, so I'll have to grab the Lewis Barnavelt ones as well... I remember Johnny being a very realistic character--intelligent but (to emjaybee's point) limited by his resources/abilities, and with believable flaws.
brookeb and phunniemee I've got those on my list now!
posted by boisterousBluebird at 4:25 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: happy_cat Harriet I'll definitely read, but the Bridge to Teribithia movie makes me a broken, inconsolable wreck, so I think I'll skip that book...
posted by boisterousBluebird at 4:27 PM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by boisterousBluebird at 4:27 PM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Five year old Jack in 'Room' by Emma Donoghue rings very true.
If you want to go inside the mind of a disturbed child try 'The Butcher Boy' by Patrick McCabe (it's a really brutal book, so don't read it if that's not what you're after).
posted by h00py at 5:12 PM on September 17, 2022
If you want to go inside the mind of a disturbed child try 'The Butcher Boy' by Patrick McCabe (it's a really brutal book, so don't read it if that's not what you're after).
posted by h00py at 5:12 PM on September 17, 2022
Kazuo Ishiguro is the author that does this best for me. Never Let me Go and When We Were Orphans are both memorable to me as hitting remarkably true on the way children think and behave.
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 5:26 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 5:26 PM on September 17, 2022
I'm a big fan of the dialogue among the 10-year-old characters in Good Omens.
posted by babelfish at 6:18 PM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by babelfish at 6:18 PM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Martha Grimes' Hotel Paradise has a 12 year-old girl protagonist.
I told my father that, in Christopher Robin, A.A.Milne had written about my son decades before he was born, and Dad said he had thought the same about me.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:29 PM on September 17, 2022
I told my father that, in Christopher Robin, A.A.Milne had written about my son decades before he was born, and Dad said he had thought the same about me.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:29 PM on September 17, 2022
Flavia de Luce - not for modern dialogue but for the obsessive, not-fully-morally-developed motivation of children, plus lack of sentimentally.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:54 PM on September 17, 2022
posted by warriorqueen at 6:54 PM on September 17, 2022
I should add: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. It has some of the best-written kid characters I've ever seen in grownup literature.
posted by yankeefog at 10:08 AM on September 18, 2022
posted by yankeefog at 10:08 AM on September 18, 2022
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Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
posted by Toddles at 10:12 AM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]