Ask Laura: Adult Lead Character in a Children’s Book?
Dear Laura,
Is it possible or advisable to have a lead character who is an adult, rather than a child, in a novel for kids ages 8-12? It seems to me that many successful books involve a lead character who is approximately the same age as the audience, unless the book involves animals as characters. Is it a generally accepted convention or a rule that the character who experiences the main conflict and changes in a children’s book should be a child? Or is it possible to have an adult as the lead character if the supporting characters are children and if the problems faced by the adult involve issues which are relevant to children? Do you know of any examples of any successful books for ages 8-12 in which the lead character is not a child?
Your questions are very perceptive. You’ve noticed that most books have children as main characters, and that the conflict needs to be something relevant to a child. As a result, it’s hard to have the main character be an adult, though not impossible. Everything that comes to mind as examples feature a prominent adult character, but the story’s still told through the viewpoint of a child. For example, The Pigman by Paul Zindel
is about an eccentric loner, but the story’s told by two kids who befriend him. Even in these books the adult is facing problems that are relevant to the middle grade readers. So to give you a firm answer to your question, I believe it would be difficult to successfully make an adult the main, viewpoint character, though he/she can be a very strong secondary character or even the focus of the book as long as a child is the one telling the story.
Laura Backes, Publisher
Children’s Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children’s Writers
October 26th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Amelia Bedelia–a couple other examples. More for younger kids, but on the low end of the 8-12, there’s appeal in these.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I remember many books about a “Mrs. Pickerel” from my childhood. Mary Poppins was another, though there were children in those books. Some of the classics that were read by children years ago–like “Treasure Island”–were about adults. And, of course, fairy tales like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty where the main characters marry.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
thx dear