Wall Scrawl: Choose Your Fictional Family


Alison Morris - October 2, 2008

It’s time again for me to post a question that originally appeared on the walls of the "graffiti stall" in our store’s women’s bathroom. (See my 6/18/08 post if you don’t know the "graffiti stall" of which I speak!)

Poor, poor you! You’re a literary orphan with no parents to call your own. What fictional family would you like to have adopt you?

After giving this one lots of thought I’m going to go with either the March family of Little Women or… the Mysterious Benedict Society, which certainly counts as a "family" if you ask me.

Now it’s your turn.

49 thoughts on “Wall Scrawl: Choose Your Fictional Family

  1. EM

    Do I have to choose just one? Probably the Krupniks, then (though I’d also be happy with the Cassons, Penderwicks, Moodys, and whatever Clementine’s last name is).

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  2. Cassie

    I’d want Mr. Bennett for a father, although I really don’t want the rest of the Bennett family… Maybe Ender’s parents from Ender’s Game. They’re incredibly intelligent but let their kids go their own way–and then pull them back when they screw up.

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  3. Susan Brown

    The Penderwicks have definite appeal! For some reason this made me ponder the other side of the coin–what family would I never want to join as an adoptee. When I re-read Harriet the Spy as an adult, I was so struck by their dysfunctionality. I don’t think I picked up on that when I read the book as a 6th grader.

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  4. teacherninja

    The Lazardo Family (of Dinosaur Bob Fame). Those guys have style, a butler, AND a flippin DINOSAUR. And Trixie’s parents seem pretty cool (Knuffle Bunny). Any adult fiction families or just children’s books?

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  5. cbroadwe

    The Murry family from the Madeleine L’Engle books. Those kids always got in the most interesting adventures, and their parents were pretty cool. Plus, they lived next door to Calvin O’Keefe, one of my early crushes. I was totally envious of Meg, despite her insecurity issues. Next, you should ask what fictional character we would marry if we could!

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  6. Heather Shrader

    I have always had a very loose definition of “family” and would like to include in this question a “family of friends” – With that in mind I would have to choose for my “family of friends” – The entire town of Green Gables.

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  7. ShelfTalker

    Teacherninja, You are welcome to suggest families from fiction for ANY age group. Interesting to wonder, though, if there ARE as many appealing-sounding families in adult fiction… I can think of one I’d love to be part of, though: Jim’s family from Jim the Boy and the recently published sequel The Blue Star by Tony Earley. In fact, Jim’s family might even trump the ones I mentioned earlier.

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  8. Four Story Mistake

    Vexil- I guess I’d be your sister- I’m definitely in with the Melendys or in Half Magic. Maybe the Pratts (from the Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt) or the Pyes (from Pinky Pye). Ooh! Too many! I’d also love the Ridgeways from Family Sabbatical.

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  9. Jo Beth Dempsey

    Love this question! I loved reading about the Moffats way back when and I would have loved Rufus as a brother (I have 3 younger sisters, no brothers). However, I also identified with the Marches, the Melendys, the Austins, the Murrays, and now the Penderwicks.

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  10. ZB

    I would love to be a Weasely, I have the red hair so I’ll fit right in! To that extent, I suppose I could pose as an Anne as well… choices, choices!

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  11. Noa Wheeler

    Murry family, hands down (you could tesser for family vacations!), though the Austins come a close second (even though they’re quite religious and I’m not–I feel that they’d tolerate me). Maybe that just means I’d choose Madeleine L’Engle?

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  12. Erlene

    I never read a family I liked better than my own parents although I always wanted to go and live with Pippi Longstocking! I just wanted to be in charge!

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  13. Trixie

    I would have a lot of fun de-gnoming the garden at the Weasleys. I have to go with the Weasleys. But I would add Pippi Longstocking as one of my sisters. Can you imagine Pippi with MAGIC? We’d have a BLAST.

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  14. CuriousCity

    The Cassons! The Hilary McKay novels are just about the funniest books I have ever read–they make me snort. I never read them because SAFFY’S ANGEL had that dreadful cover that made me think it was one of those “heartfelt” books. Of course, I would have to be named after a paint color. I choose…Alizarin, Alice for short.

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  15. J.Kasten

    When I was little I wanted to be one of the Pevensey’s, because I wanted to be in Narnia and see Aslan, but today I immediately thought of the Melendy’s. Now I’m thinking “

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  16. Rdr1

    I wouldn’t mind being a Belden- I always had a fictional crush on Jim. And I wouldn’t mind marrying Edward and becoming a Cullen!!

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  17. Karin

    I would enjoy living with Nancy Drew and her cool, calm and collected father. No mater what kind of jam she got herself into, he never got as mad as most parents would.

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  18. Nancy

    Love so many of the families mentioned. I loved the extended family in the All of a Kind Family books. I also loved Eloise’s life with her push-over Nanny and the tutor she managed to turn into a puddle every time. Of course growing up with totally absent and neglectful parents can’t have been good in the long run! But it’s true that there is really something to many books where the parents just don’t figure in. The Narnia books…and others mentioned.

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  19. Jessica

    I’d want to be a member of the Ray family from the Betsy-Tacy series. To have Mr. Ray and Mrs Ray for parents would be bliss. You’d might have to keep Julia out of my face, though.

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  20. Laura

    Definitely the Rays, the Melendys, or the All-of-a-kind Family (especially since I’m Jewish). Or the Grandparents from “The Golden Name Day” by Jennie Lindquist.

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  21. Abigail

    Okay, it took me forever before I got a chance to read and think about this, but I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be one of the “All-of-a-Kind Family” (only kid I know who wanted to live in a tenement) or sisters with Sarah Crewe (also the only kid I know who wanted to be a scullery maid). The Cuthberts/Blythes, depending on my mood and which book in the series is appealing to me, were very close seconds.

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  22. Penny Jo

    Murrys, Austins, and Weasleys are all good. But I’d also like to be a kid of Mr. and Mrs. Popper and slide down the frozen stairs on my stomach with those penguins!

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  23. Emily Noon

    I’d say the Melendys (I just reread “The Four-Story Mistake,” and it’s still wonderful). For a real-life family, I always wanted to be a Bronte, live on the moors, and play all those wonderful writing games with my sibs . . . leaving out all the hard parts of their lives, of course.

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  24. Emily Noon

    I’d say the Melendys (I just reread “The Four-Story Mistake,” and it’s still wonderful). For a real-life family, I always wanted to be a Bronte, live on the moors, and play all those wonderful writing games with my sibs . . . leaving out all the hard parts of their lives, of course.

    Reply
  25. Brooke

    I concur with the person who wanted to live with the family from Dark Lord of Derkholm — when I read the question, I immediately thought about living with Christopher Chant’s family!

    Reply

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