Cool Boys from Kid Lit

In late May and early June, with much help from visitors to this site, I compiled a list of 200 Cool Girls from Children's Literature. Since then, several people have asked "what about the boys?" So, I thought that it was about time to start working on the list of Cool Boys from Children's Literature. The criteria for inclusion is the same as it was for the girls. We want boys who are brave and independent and smart, and who, ideally, have a sense of humor. Here is my first pass list.

1. Alfred Kropp from The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey.
2. Art from The Invisible Detective series (Double Life, Shadow Beast, etc.) by Justin Richards.
3. Artemis Fowl from the series by Eoin Colfer.
4. Arthur Duncan from the Maida books (Maida's Little Shop, etc.) by Inez Haynes Irwin.
5. Atreyu from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
6. Bastian Balthazar Bux from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
7. Bean from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
8. Bobby Pendragon from the Pendragon series (starting with The Merchant of Death) by D. J. MacHale.
9. Bud Caldwell from Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.
10. Charles Wallace Murray from A Wrinkle in Time (and sequels) by Madeleine L'Engle.
11. Charlie Ashanti from Lionboy and sequels by Zizou Corder.
12. Charlie Bone from the Children of the Red King Series (starting with Midnight for Charlie Bone) by Jenny Nimmo
13. Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
14. Ralph from The Mouse and the Motorcycle and sequels by Beverly Cleary.
15. Doon Harrow from The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau
16. Edward Cullen from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
17. Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol.
18. Eragon from the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini.
19. Felix Piloto from Free Baseball by Sue Corbett.
20. Finn from Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken.
21. Finn from The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson.
22. Fletcher Moon from Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer.
23. Frank and Joe Hardy from the Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon.
24. Gregor from the Gregor The Overlander (Underland Chronicles) books by Suzanne Collins.
25. Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.
26. Harry Potter from the series by J. K. Rowling.
27. Henry Huggins from the series by Beverly Cleary.
28. Huck Finn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
29. James Bond from Silverfin by Charles Higson.
30. Jamie from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.
31. Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee from Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.
32. Jess Aarons from Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.
33. Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
34. John Gaunt from The Akhenaten Adventure (Children of the Lamp series) by P. B. Kerr.
35. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes.
36. Jonah Wish from Thieves Like Us by Stephen Cole.
37. Jonas from The Giver by Lois Lowry.
38. Kit from the Young Wizards series (starting with So You Want to Be a Wizard ) by Diane Duane.
39. Klaus Baudelaire from the Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket
40. Matt Cruse from Airborn and Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel.
41. Max from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
42. Milo from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. (Not so much at the beginninng of the book, but he improves.)
43. Nathaniel from The Bartimaeus Trilogy (starting with The Amulet of Samarkand) by Jonathan Stroud.
44. Nick from Frindle by Andrew Clements.
45. Oliver Melendy from The Saturdays and sequels by Elizabeth Enright.
46. Percy Jackson from The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.
47. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (also cool as portrayed by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson in Peter and the Starcatchers).
48. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.
49. Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.
50. Scipio from The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.
51. Stanley Yelnats from Holes by Louis Sachar.
52. Stuart Little by E. B. White.
53. Tom D. Fitzgerald (The Great Brain) from the series by John D. Fitzgerald.
54. Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
55. Tony Malone from Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key.
56. Turner Buckminster from Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt.
57. Will Parker from The Tripods series by John Christopher.
58. Will Parry from the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
59. Will Stanton from The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper.
60. Zane from Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld.

Most popular names so far: Charlie and Will. I'm sure that there are boys that I'm missing, and I welcome your feedback. Make your suggestions in the comments, or email me directly. Thanks!

Comments

[Kelly]

I'd vote for Ron from the HP series.

[Leila]

Eugenides from Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series. Also Indigo Casson from Hilary McKay's books. And Leon Garfield's Smith. Gilbert Blythe. Dickon from The Secret Garden.

[Dana Robinson]

You got Bean in there Jen, but where's Andrew Wiggin! He was a pretty cool kid!

[Carrie K.]

Charles Wallace and Jamie were the two that immediately lept to mind. Plus HP and Ron, of course.

My bookmark came in the mail - thanks so much!

[Sheila B.]

Taran from The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander

[Kim]

What about Henry Huggins from Beverly Cleary's books?

[Liz B]

I have to add Gen from The Thief. But my all time fave is Will Stanton.

Also:
Almanzo from Farmer Boy
Arthur P. from the Keys of the Kingdom series
Florian from Mimus
Nicholas from Master Skylark
Simon & Jared Grace from Spiderwyck Chronicles
Bran from the Dark is Rising Series.
Peter Pevensie from Narnia.

I'll think some more.

[Jennifer, Snapshot]

I know that he's only been in one book, but I loved Jeffrey from the Penderwicks. He definitely has spirit and a sense of humor, but I'm biased, because I loved everything about that book.

What about the Hardy Boys? This is just conjecture, since I don't know much about them.

I just asked DD(almost 8), and she said that Benny (or Henry) from the Boxcar Children.

I missed the girl post, so I'll probably keep thinking about this.

[Becky]

I knew I was going to show my age and traditional tendencies again, especially since most of these boys have dogs or horses, so I asked my kids (including two boys, ages 7 and 5.5) for their suggestions too:

Alec Ramsay from The Black Stallion (and sequels)
Billy from Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Boris, er, Morris (from Freaky Friday and A Billion for Boris by Mary Rogers)
Danny, the champion of the world, from the book of the same name
Danny from Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard
Harvey from Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling
Homer Price from Homer Price, Centerburg Tales, etc. by Robert McCloskey
Joe from Lassie Come-Home
Brothers John and Roger from Swallows & Amazons and the sequels
Jonathan in The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh
Ken from My Friend Flicka and Green Grass of Wyoming by Mary O'Hara
Mario from The Cricket in Times Square
Mowgli from The Jungle Book
Omri and Little Bear from The Indian in the Cupboard
Peter. Pan, perhaps the coolest boy of all.
Ralph from the autobiographical "Little Britches" series by Ralph Moody
Travis from Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
William from The Castle in the Attic and The Battle for the Castle

Heavens, that's the tip of my iceberg lol, but I have to feed my cool boys (and girl)...

[Jen Robinson]

Wow! You all are awesome! Thanks so much for the great suggestions. I knew that the Kidlitosphere wouldn't let me down. I'll be updating the list later this week. Thanks!!!

[Becky]

Robin Hood
Robin from The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
Arthur in The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
Tien Pao, from The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong
Jemmy and Prince Brat (Horace) from The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Nathaniel Bowditch from Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Pepito (aka the Bad Hat) from the Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans, until the end when he mends his ways and isn't nearly as much fun

[Little Willow]

Jeffrey Lionel Magee aka Maniac from Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Milo from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Will from His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Bastian Balthazar Bux from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Kit from the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane
Encyclopedia Brown from the series by Donald J. Sobol.
Henry Huggins from the books by Beverly Cleary
Matthew Martin from the books by Paula Danziger

For teens:
Jack from the Prowlers quartet by Christopher Golden
Aaron from The Fallen quartet by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Parker from The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

From classics not necessarily for kids but because I have to mention him due to my adoration:
Nick from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Bibliophile]

Mark Severson from “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Alden
Ponyboy from The Outsiders
Robbie Hewitt from Preacher’s Boy by Katherine Patterson
Pip from Great Expectations by Dickens
Oliver from Oliver Twist by Dickens
Pagan Kidrouk from Pagan series by Catherine Jinks
Laurie from Little Women
Almanzo from Farmer Boy

[Camille]

I second the nomination of Bud Caldwell from Bud, Not Buddy. Also I would include my boy, Alex Rider from the Anthony Horowitz series.

[Genevieve]

Love the suggestions so far! Lots of good books I'll have to read to my boy. Will you divide the eventual list by approximate age? (e.g. picture books, early readers, young chapter books, pre-teens, young adult) It'd be a great help.

James from James and the Giant Peach.
Yes to Laurie from Little Women.
Yay for Tony Malone!
Edmund Pevensie (only in Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

[Liz B]

I'm back.

Edek B. & Jan from The Silver Sword (aka Escape from Warsaw.)

[Jen Robinson]

Updated list pending (it's now up to 119). But meanwhile, a special thank you to Genevieve for casting a second vote for one of my all-time favorite boys of children's literature, Tony Malone (aka Tony Castaway) from Escape to Witch Mountain. I love the book and movie versions, even though they're somewhat different from one another.

[MIchele]

I vote for:

Will from His Dark Materials;
Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom from the HP series;
Stanley Yelnats from "Holes" (Louis Sachar);
David from "The Boy Who Lost His Face" (Louis Sachar)
Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck and Pipping Took from "The Lord of the Rings" (OK, not strictly "boys", but they're boy-age in Hobbit terms !)

That's all I can tihnk of for the moment with my melty, sleepless brain - I'll come back if I think of any more !

[Brian F.]

How about Lewis Barnavelt from The House With A Clock In Its Walls?

[Kate]

Please don't forget Rudy from The Book Thief. He made me cry!

[Chris]

Julian from Gone Away Lake by ELizabeth Enright. He's geeky and into sports and adventurous but still likes to hang and explore with his cousin.

I second John from Swallows and Amazons.

[Chris]

Me again. I reread Gone Away Lake just to find out Julian's last name- it is Jarman.

[Katie]

I'd like to second both Taran from The Chronicles of Prydain AND Rudy from The Book Thief.

Ooh, and what about Noah from Carl Hiaasen's Flush? And both Roy and "Mullet Fingers" from his Hoot?