Comments on: Percy Jackson, Who? Meet The Best Child Heroes of All Time

By: notherlandjourneys

notherlandjourneys — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:37:51 +0000

The three books in The Notherland Journeys trilogy have a great girl-hero who creates imaginary worlds, travels to them and, when necessary, saves them. Check them out at http://www.kathleenmcdonnell.com

By: bignumone

bignumone — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:17:33 +0000

The books with Wiggin sound interesting. I will have to look them up.
I forgot about Spirited Away and “The Golden Compass” (but I wouldn’t call them the most heroic kids myself).
I still like the original Jim Hawkins better.
And I can’t believe I forgot about Coraline! I really liked that book/movie.
I know why I forgot about Jim Graham, I didn’t like the story that much and I don’t see the scifi/fantasy connection. For that matter, neither was Ferris Beuller..funny, but pretty far from scifi.
Hogarth was a good one, though.

By: yag01

yag01 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:20:34 +0000

I don’t want to hate but there are some entries on this list that just baffle me. a kid in king arthurs court? really? here are a few I think coulda gone on this list:

def. some Ender Wiggin. props cody.

Chiyo from Spirited Away (or any protagonist from a miyazaki film really)

Lyra and Will from the “his dark materials trilogy”(if you’ve read it, they might be the most heroic kids of any story if you ask me)

Jim Hawkins from muppet treasure island

Coraline was a pretty good girl kids heroine

Jim Graham from Empire of the Sun

Ferris Beuller is about the same age as harry potter during that book

Hogarth from Iron Giant

By: cody32786

cody32786 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:51:23 +0000

…Andrew “Ender” Wiggin

I didn’t read all the comments…but for a techland post…seriously

go look that name up and read the books.

By: bignumone

bignumone — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:26:24 +0000

My daughter liked the movie, but felt it was too far from the written work. I thought it was fun, but I wasn’t expecting much.
I will stay in the genre/s of science/fantasy fiction.
If we are going teen like Skywalker, how about Paul Atreides?
If we are staying younger, Lucy Pevensie? She was brave and heroic!
Coming of age? Jim Hawkins. (although that could be Muad’Dib as well)
Biblical? David.
Historic? Joan of Arc
OK, the last two are not fantasy/scifi, but to modern day people they are as good as. I am very serious here, I mean no offense to those who are very religious.
Well, the examples up to now are much better, and I am reaching around the edges of what I have read/seen in books/movies.
I just wanted to get in on the “conversation”.

By: tereglith

tereglith — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:16:36 +0000

I’ve read all five Percy Jackson books, and, I have to say, in the books, he’s a pretty cool dude. By the end he’s been dipped in the River Styx and all sorts of crap to make him invincible, and he destroys entire armies of Kronos that are parading around NYC at the end. It sounds like they butchered it in the movie though, making him sixteen instead of twelve…

By: grape_crush

grape_crush — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:57:14 +0000

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Holden? Their books are not only too difficult for these students to read but they’re not appropriate.

The title is ‘The Best Child Heroes of All Time’, not ‘Best Child Heroes For Children’…unless Allie wishes to clarify the criteria again.

By: masurix

masurix — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:16:03 +0000

@guineateacher. That’s all well and good, but there’s no reason they can’t make a good movie even if it is for the kiddies. I think a lot of the stuff that gets churned out for the childrens is atrocious dreck. Don’t be an advocate for that mindset, imo.

By: guineateacher

guineateacher — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:51:39 +0000

I’d like to point out the target audience of Percy Jackson. I’m teach an upper elementary class, and he is very popular there. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Holden? Their books are not only too difficult for these students to read but they’re not appropriate.

The movie, too, was made for a younger audience. This audience isn’t looking for fantastic acting skills; it’s look for entertainment value. When my kids see movies like this one, they’re thinking, “Did I have fun?” and “What was different from the book?” They don’t notice if someone’s acting wasn’t Oscar-worthy.

By: cait48

cait48 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:48:21 +0000

What happened to the kids of Lemony Snicket? You think *they* weren’t brave?

By: grape_crush

grape_crush — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:58:45 +0000

Sigh...That version of Pan was really about Wendy, not Peter. And the headline is "Meet The Best Child Heroes of All Time"... But, If you want to stick with sciffy, you can still do better, like Ofelia, or maybe David Play nicely... Ha! I am being nice. Good call on Short Round, btw.

By: swut2

swut2 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Whee is Kevin McCallister (from Home Alone)? This list is incomplete without him. He may have grown up to be less cute, less cool, but he fought off real-life robbers invading his home. He didn’t go away or fight fake mythical creatures. Kevin was the best.

By: Allie Townsend

Allie Townsend — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:44:52 +0000

Hey, to each his own. Play nicely, grape_crush.

Though I adore Wendy Moira Angela Darling, she really did tend to reign things in a bit to be considered the story’s hero. Peter far out shines her there.

Also, I tried to keep our heroes into the action/sci-fi realm. Keepin it a la Techland, you know.

By: grape_crush

grape_crush — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:37:22 +0000

Anakin Skywalker or Calvin Fuller instead of Wendy Darling? You'd think that the criteria would include that the movie would be good. How 'bout Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Or go the anti-hero route with Holden Caufield?

By: alaskanturkey

alaskanturkey — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:11:48 +0000

I’m sorry, but have you never seen Flight of the Navigator?

By: Allie Townsend

Allie Townsend — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:09:13 +0000

Sorry, dsheehan5, Dorothy was certainly in the running, but Alice got her spot.

By: dsheehan5

dsheehan5 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:59:14 +0000

BTW — ever hear about the story of a young girl from Kansas named Dorothy …? If not, I can fill you in …

By: dsheehan5

dsheehan5 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:48:38 +0000

Let’s keep it to literature-only for a moment (geek-wise, that is):

Tom Swift
Danny Dunn

Anyone under 40, please refer to Wikipedia.

Lev: please chime in with your own kid heroes from the world of books …

By: Allie Townsend

Allie Townsend — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:47:47 +0000

Any kid who can keep on keeping on after his best friend drowns because he wasn’t there is brave. Dare I say, heroic?

By: Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:39:32 +0000

Terebithia? Really? The Last Starfighter wuz robbed …