Favorite Fictional Families

What can be more maddening to a kid growing up than a family that doesn't cater to his or her whims? The teasing brother, the dramatic sister, the annoying parents--every child reaches some point during their growing-up years when they wish they could trade their family in for a newer model. Thankfully, there are many authors who have created a vast array of families to choose from.  As a kid, I spent a lot of time reading about big, boisterous, adventuresome families, sometimes wishing my own family was more like that. I had a great real family, but I'm thankful that I had some fictional families to grow up with as well. So here's my list of favorite fictional families, roughly in developmental order (easiest books first, hardest last).

"All-of-a-Kind-Family" by Sydney Taylor

In this family classic set during the turn of the last century, five little girls in stockings and pinafores grow up in a loving Jewish home. Some parts of their life are completely foreign--the fear of scarlet fever, traveling peddlers, New York City! Yet the squabbles of sisterhood and the struggle to grow up, like sneaking out to get your ears pierce without your parents' permission--seem very familiar still today.

If you love the first book, read the rest! The "All-of-a-Kind-Family Downtown", and "More All-of-a-Kind-Family".




The Ingalls family from the "Little House on the Prairie" series

 I know that everyone loves to make fun of the cheesy TV show from the 70's and 80's, but these books have been a staple in many homes for 80 years with good cause. Not only does Wilder bring Westward Expansion and the taming of the Midwestern states alive for the readers, but we are also allowed a glimpse into the heart of a wonderful family. There's sweet and sensible Mama, boisterous Papa who's always ready to move on and three sisters who sometimes get along and sometimes get into a lot of trouble. Any child can identify with that! Perhaps the best part is that you get to watch them all grow up into adults. Click on the picture to request a copy of the first book of nine.  


The Clock Family from "The Borrowers" by Mary Norton

Tiny people! In England! What's not to love? In this delightful series, we follow the adventures of Pod, Homily, and Arriety who live in a clock in a house in England. They live off the giant "human beans" who inhabit the house, but stay well away from the large and frightening creatures. At least until one small, sick boy sees Arriety.  Thus begins a relationship that will change everything. Follow them through "The Borrowers Afield", "The Borrowers Afloat", "The Borrowers Aloft" and "The Borrowers Avenged". And when you're done reading, watch the movie. Tiny People!








The Moomin Family by Tove Jansson

I have to admit that, in the case of this series, I am sad to be an American. Why? Because everyone else on the planet is aware of these wonderful books, but I didn't even know they existed until recently. There's even a popular theme park in Finland! Why did I not have these when I was a kid? Why!? Sorry. But I love love love this series. Written in Finland by Swedish author and illustrator Tove Jansson during the forties and fifties, it stars Moomintroll, an adventurous young creature, the resourceful and unruffled Moominmamma, the wise and creative Moominpapa and a whole host of charming and fantastic friends. Think of it as The Hobbit meets Winnie-the-Pooh. Click on the picture to check out the first book, and keep your eyes peeled for a more in-depth review of this series at a later date.


The Melendy family by Elizabeth Enright

I met the Melendys via a giant tome on the sale table at my library as a kid (ten cents!). It contained all four in the series: "The Saturdays",
"The Four-Story Mistake", "Then There Were Five", and "Spiderweb for Two". I promptly devoured the lives of Mona, Rush, Miranda, Oliver, and their dad, then proceeded to read them over and over again. They live in a house called the Four-Story-Mistake, go on metal drives for the war effort, pool their allowances to go on adventures, adopt an abused and orphaned boy named Mark, and generally harass their housekeeper, Cuffy.  Each child has a distinct and delightful personality and I wish they had been my neighbors growing up.




"The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall

 I never thought it could be possible to love any fictional family as much as I love the Melendys--and then came "The Penderwicks".  Rosalind, Sky, Jane, and Batty quickly took up residence in my affections, never to leave again. Mr. Penderwick is an absentminded, widowed professor with four daughters. Because the girls love their dad and don't want to stress him out, they have a code of honor and self-governance that they live by.  Yet somehow, they always end up in a muddle and Mr. Penderwick is there to save them. From a cottage in the country, to home, to the beach, the girls explore and scheme and blunder. Funny and touching, this family is destined to become a classic. Read more about them in "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street" and "The Penderwicks at Point Mouette". 


The Beaumonts and their kin by Ingrid Law

What kid hasn't at some time wished they had special powers? What about a whole family with special powers?  And what if you didn't know what your gift was until your 13th birthday? That's how it works in the extraordinary, yet somehow ordinary family of Beaumonts and their various friends and relations. Grandpa Bomba moves the earth, Momma is almost perfect at everything, brother Fish controls water, brother Rocket controls electricity. In "Savvy", Mips Beaumont is about to turn thirteen and desperately wants to have the gift of waking her not-savvy dad out of a coma.  In "Scumble", their cousin Will can't learn to control his magnetic savvy, but Rocket comes along to help. Ingrid Law's delicious and lyrical prose is a treat to read, and you'll definitely want to get to know this family!


The Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

It would be a complete blast to be a part of the Applewhite family. They live in a rescued motor park in North Carolina called Wit's End, and it's basically an artist colony. With a self-directed homeschool that allows each of the four kids, Hal, Cordelia, E.D. and Destiny complete freedom to follow their whims, five eclectic and artistic adults, two goats and a swearing parrot there's plenty of chaos to go around. Yet in spite of the drama, the family always seems to work it out, even when a juvenile delinquent named Jake joins the school and the Applewhites lose their funds. Look for the sequel coming soon--"The Applewhites at Wit's End." Click on the picture to reserve your copy of "Surviving the Applewhites".


The Smiths from The Ashtown Burials by N.D. Wilson

Here's a newbie! And I can't wait for the next book to come out in September.  In "The Dragon's Tooth" by N.D. Wilson, After an accident kills their father and leaves their mother in a coma, Daniel, Antigone and Cyrus Smith have to move from California to take up residence in an old hotel in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Life is sad and dreary for two years until Billy Bones shows up with an explosive bug, a dragon's tooth, and a crazy secret that turns their lives upside-down. I don't want to give it away, but it just might involve a secret society of adventurers, mutants, and the craziest inheritance ever. Who doesn't sometimes feel like a plain Smith, but wishes their family really had an adventurous secret? 


"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann David Wyss

It starts with a shipwreck. It ends with an amazing island paradise. During the summer, the Robinsons (father, mother, and four boys) live in a tree house. Tree house! In the winter, they live in a cave. A cave with a library. That's all you ever really need, right? The adventure and ingenuity of this classic tale was riveting to me as a girl, and I wanted my own deserted island so that I could live in a tree house and become friends with wild animals. Sadly, my neighborhood raccoons never would comply to my wishes. This is a great story for adventurous souls everywhere. After you finish reading, you can have a good laugh watching the old Disney movie.


The Murray family from the Time Quintet by Madeline L'Engle

As far as brilliant literary families go, the Murrays take the cake. Their stories begin with "A Wrinkle in Time", where we meet the ultimate geek-hero, Meg. With red hair, glasses, braces, scientist parents (one of whom is missing), and a weirdly sensitive little brother, she has no social capital at all. But she's brilliant, and she gets sucked into a weirdly fantastic adventure involving tessering, a giant brain, and a cute boy named Calvin. All of the Murray kids have their own fantastic brain-stretching adventures in this series, and they are each uniquely strange and involve time and space travel. There is nobody like Madeline L'Engle and the Murrays.



The Finch family from "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

Last, but certainly not least, I give you Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch. I know that this is not a juvie or teen book, but we all read it in middle or high school, and it's about kids. That counts, right? Can I just say, first of all, that I love their names? Atticus is pretty much the coolest dad in literature, period. He is a model of gracious, restrained power and humble integrity. Quite frankly, we need more of that in the world. We get to follow Jem as he begins the transition from mischievous boy into a young man, courageously trying to follow in his father's footsteps. And I can't help loving outspoken, cantankerous Scout who tells us the beautiful and tragic story of her family, Tom Robinson and that memorable summer in Maycomb, Alabama. "To Kill a Mockingbird" also has the best book to film adaptation ever made.


Now give thanks for your own weirdly wonderful family, go forth and read about a few more!


--Andrea W., H.Q.