Top Ten Tuesday | When I Grow Up

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is '' - I'm so excited to share my list with you and to see other people's lists, because I think this is such a fun topic and one that's going to give a lot of insight into the kind of books other book bloggers were reading during their childhood.

Just as a side note, I haven't included any characters from Harry Potter in this list because they'd probably take up my entire list. Also, with the main trio at least, we do get a glimpse of them as adults in the epilogue, and I'm off to see them as adults in the new play in October!

Matilda Wormwood from Matilda by Roald Dahl: As much as I tend to think of Matilda as forever a child, forever living comfortably with Miss Honey in their lovely house, I'd love to see the kind of woman Matilda would grow into. Very intelligent, of course - I get the feeling that Matilda would be the kind of girl who goes to university and never leaves, and once she has her English Literature PhD under her belt I'm sure she'd take the academic world by storm.

Adèle Varens from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: Considering there's a possibility that Adèle is Rochester's daughter, and that she and Jane get along so well, I feel like she gets forgotten too often by Jane Eyre fans - I'm guilty of forgetting her myself! Before she passed away Angela Carter had plans to write a novel about Adèle in which she slept with Rochester, who did indeed turn out to be her father, and then ran away to France to find her mother and become a dancer. Or something like that. That would have been interesting, but the amount of daughters who sleep with their fathers in Angela Carter's stories kind of freaks me out...

Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden is one of my favourite classics, and Mary's one of my favourite heroines. I've always had a soft spot for her. I like to think she and Colin had a very happy childhood with Colin's father, and when she grew up I hope Mary became a botanist or something of that ilk. She has to do something with gardens, and Mary enjoys getting her hands dirty far too much to do nothing but arrange bouquets.

Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: I find it very hard to imagine Alice as anything but a perpetual child, but I imagine adult Alice would be a fascinating Victorian lady. I would hope she'd use her dreams - if they were dreams - to write bizarrely fun and fantastical stories for children, and indulge in a little nonsense.

Susan Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: I hate the way C.S. Lewis treats Susan, so I'd love to see her as a fully grown adult just to make sure she's doing okay. She's 21 years old by the time of The Last Battle, which means the majority of her 20s would take place in the '50s and her 30s in the '60s. I'd love to see her at political rallies fighting for birth control and racial equality. At least that's what she's doing in my head.

Sophie from the Sophie series by Dick King-Smith: Dick King-Smith is one of my favourite childhood authors. I was obsessed with animals when I was little - I wanted to be a vet for the longest time - so I devoured animal books of every kind, including Dick King-Smith's Sophie series. Sophie is a little girl who wants to be a farmer when she grows up, and I'd love to see if she achieved that dream.

Ellie Allard from the Girls series by Jacqueline Wilson: Jacqueline Wilson is another childhood favourite. In fact as a child she was my favourite author for a very long time; I read and loved everything she wrote. Her Girls series in particular has always been very special to me, because these were the first books I read during my pre-teens where I really understood the main character, Ellie. Ellie struggles a lot with self-esteem, especially with her appearance and her weight, and those were issues I struggled with (and still do) a lot during my teens. I'd love to see where Ellie ended up. Hopefully she's a world famous artist by now.

Sophie from The BFG by Roald Dahl: I'd love to know what Sophie grows up to be when she has The BFG for a guardian. Does she give children pleasant dreams with him, or does she set up her own giant-hunting agency for all those other horrible giants out there? Perhaps she even sets up a (very big) safe house for other giants like The BFG, and becomes the ambassador for human and giant relations. Whatever adulthood has in store for her, I'm sure it's not dull.

Nobody Owens from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book is probably my favourite of Neil Gaiman's novels, with American Gods coming in at a very close second, and I'd love to know what adulthood brings Bod. If you haven't read The Graveyard Book yet then I highly recommend you do - it's so good!

Neil and Emily Parker from the Puppy Patrol series by Jenny Dale: The Puppy Patrol series was another series I was obsessed with as a little girl; I used to own so many of these books, which centred around the adventures of the Parker family, particularly brother and sister Neil and Emily, who owned a kennels. Each book introduced a new dog and a new adventure, and I'd love to know if Neil and Emily stayed in the family business or did something entirely different.

Who made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Are you still okay?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Characters You'd Like To Check In With', which basically means ten characters you'd like to visit to see how they're doing now that their story is over! I had a lot of fun compiling this list, especially as many of the characters mentioned are characters from my childhood.

I'm probably going to be mentioning spoilers in this post, even if they're only little, because it's very hard to talk about characters after a book or series has finished without giving away a little of the ending. So if you haven't read any of the books or series that I mention and you want to, please be wary of that!

Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling: I'm going to be very surprised if this guy isn't on pretty much everyone's list - or at least everyone who's a fan of Harry Potter. To be honest it'd be nice to make sure all the characters I love are okay. Or at least the ones who survived the final book. But it's Harry in particular I want to check on. I know, thanks to the epilogue, that we know he's okay, but after the horrible childhood he had, followed by some tumultuous years at school, I just want to sit back and watch him do mundane things that people have to do when they become husbands and fathers. Strange, I know, but nothing would make me happier than seeing him just hanging out with his kids, and being part of a loving family like he always wanted.

Sabriel from The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix: To be honest I'd like to check in on Lirael, too, but considering Sabriel basically got to become the queen when she married Touchstone I think checking in on her would be a lot of fun. I'd love to spend the day watching her go about her duties like the absolute babe she is, and if Touchstone and Mogget are there then I'd be even happier!

Nobody Owens from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: I only read The Graveyard Book last year but it's quickly become one of my favourites. I just want to make sure Bod's alright and that he's managed to make a life for himself after leaving the graveyard and all his friends and family in it.

Johanna Mason from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins: Is it just me or does Johanna just... disappear by the end of Mockingjay? I can completely understand why Suzanne Collins couldn't write an epilogue detailing where everyone was and how they were doing, but as Johanna is one of my favourites in the series I'd love to know that she's alright; that she managed to find some sort of peace, and maybe that she spent her days travelling around Panem, smashing the patriarchy.

Connie Goodwin from The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe: I'm pretty sure, if I remember correctly, that Connie's part of this story takes place in 1991 (the year I was born, woo!) meaning if I were to check in on her now she'd be in her 40s, approaching her 50s. I'd just like to see how her life has been so far, and if she managed to come to terms with her powers and produce any magical daughters of her own. With Sam, hopefully, who is one of my book boyfriends because I imagine him as exceedingly hot.

Callie Rose Hadley from the Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman: Wow, Callie's early life is one real roller-coaster ride. This series is amazing, and if you haven't read it yet then I highly recommend that you do. From what I remember I'm pretty sure Callie wanted to go on to study law and improve their shitty justice system, and I'd just love to see if that's what she did or if, like so many of us, her dreams changed.

Dolphin Westward from The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson: As with pretty much all the characters on this list, I just want to make sure Dolphin's okay. She was in foster care when we left her, and I'd love to know that her Mum got better and that Dolphin was well taken care of and that, hopefully, she managed to have a regular relationship with her Dad and his family.

Queen Violante from the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke: I loved this trilogy when I first read it - it's so imaginative and the characters are such fun - but it was Violante I loved most. By the end of Inkdeath the crown was hers and the people had grown to love her, so I'd jump at the chance to see how her reign is going - well, I hope!

Minerva from Pirates! by Celia Rees: Pirates! is the book I have to thank for my love of historical fiction. I read it back during my pre-teen days and loved it, and in particular I loved Minerva. It's been a while since I read it, but from what I can recall she was pregnant by the end of the book. I'd just love to check in on her and see how she and her little pirate family are doing.

Neil Parker from the Puppy Patrol series by Jenny Dale: When I wasn't reading Roald Dahl, Grimm's Fairy Tales or this huge dinosaur encyclopedia I used to constantly get out the library, I was reading animal books. I was an animal nut when I was little, and to me the Parker's life was a dream; Neil's parents owned a kennels, meaning he and his sisters were surrounded by dogs. I loved reading about their adventures when I was little, and I'd love to know what they'd be up to as adults.

Which books made your list?