My Fictional Hero

I really didn’t have a fictional character that I looked up to as a child.  I have to admit that until 8^th grade, I really didn’t do much reading for pleasure.  And the books I read in 8^th grade were mostly Stephen King or V.C. Andrews novels, and for those of who aren’t familiar with that work there are no good heroes in those stories. 

A book that sticks out in my mind that I enjoyed as a child was Bridge to Terabithia.  I remember liking these 2 books as a kid, but not because I found any of the characters heroic.  I was drawn to books about make believe places.  My brother and I often played games where we would imagine ourselves in faraway lands that didn’t exist in reality.  Reading about them helped my imagination grow. 

I guess because I liked reading about magical make believe lands, you can say that those places were my heroes.  I loved that in Bridge to Terabithia Jesse and Leslie created Terabithia, a magical forest kingdom that they could escape to.  Terabithia grew to be my favorite character in the story, and was a hero to me because it was a place to hide from reality.  I was jealous of Jesse and Leslie for having a Terabithia.

Now I can say that I like strong female characters.  I would love to be Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games or Tris from Divergent.  I think the give girls growing up now someone to look up to and aspire to be.  These girls broke the mold of a hero being a man and show that girls can kick some ass too!  How can they not be my heroes?!?!