Who is Your Favorite Fiction Character?

When you are reading a novel, what characters inspire you? Do you revel in the security of a favorite (although possibly cliched) stereotype? Are you looking for a hero - someone to place on a pedestal and revere? Maybe you prefer someone you can more easily identify with, a character that is real and flawed? Perhaps you like to pep up your characters to be a notch above the normal average Joe.

I write books for children through young adults. Lately my focus has been in the genre of fantasy. Look at some of the more popular works throughout time - Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Alice as she journeys through the looking glass, and, of course, one of this generation's popular boy wizards - Harry Potter. What do these timeless characters have in common? The authors of each of these works have brilliantly developed characters their audience can truly embrace. Characters that step off the page, grab their reader's hand and take them on an adventure they won't forget. Who are some of your favorite characters in literature today?