Who are the most popular characters to enter the elementary age reading scene in 2013? Which characters have caught kids’ imagination and had them asking for more? Looking for some new reading inspiration, that’s the question we asked ourselves. So we did some research – plowing through the NY Times Bestseller list, the Goodreads, major publisher and Amazon sites, and a slew of literature award categories.
The results are in and here are the top 10 characters of 2013 your kids will want to get to know.
Auggie Pullman is an ordinary kid with a facial deformity entering mainstream school for the first time. Wonder by R. J. Palacio is an uplifting novel that lets our kids embrace all that is different about ourselves and those around us.
Ivan, the gorilla. Ivan’s sedentary life behind a glass wall at Exit 8 Big top Mall and Video Arcade changes forever when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is an unforgettable novel about friendship, art and hope.
The father, little boy and his sister in Neil Gaiman’s latest novel: Fortunately, the Milk. When mom leaves on business, and dad is left to take care the household. First on the list, get some milk. What happens next is a cacophony of time travel involving aliens, pirates, ponies and wumpires.
Kids who love scary novels, will delight in the adventures of Zach, Poppy and Alice. In Doll Bones by Holly Black, Poppy is haunted by a china doll made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived and bury it or be cursed for eternity.
Andrew Bean, the superhero sidekick, has his hands full managing his superhero, his mentor and best friend, whilst keeping his sidekick life a secret from everyone. In Sidekicked by John David Anderson, Andrew’s life gets more complicated when a supervillain, long thought dead, returns.
Mia and her mom rush to Porthaven at hearing the news that their grandfather has disappeared in North of Nowhere by Liz Kessler. Expecting a quiet time in a sleepy fishing village, Mia is surprised to strike up an unusual friendship – one that turns into a real mystery of finding her grandfather and her new friend.
Mouse Minor is sent to the Royal Mews Mouse Academy, but without a real name and with so many questions about who he is and who he might become, his grades suffer. In The mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck, readers are taken on adventures through Buckingham Palace, a meeting with Queen Victoria and beyond.
Willow Chance is a 12-year-old genius and an outsider in Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. She finds herself in a baffling world, when her adoptive parents, the two people she connected with, die in a car crash. The journey she takes to find a surrogate family is a fantastic story of joy and hope.
Kyle Keeley is the class clown and lover of all games: board games, word games, video games. In Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s library by Chris Grabenstein, Kyle wins one of 12 coveted spots to spent the night in a newly built library, created by Luigi Lemoncello, the most creative gamemaker in the world. Come morning the doors remain locked. What happens next takes Kyle and the other winners on a big hunt for clues to ultimately find a hidden escape route.
Olivia has a huge task on her hands – to save her father’s dwindling concert hall, and she gets help from some spooky friends. In The Year of Shadows by Claire Legend, Olivia finds out how resilient you can be when you need to be.
