Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where book bloggers are invited to share their top ten lists centered on a certain theme.

This week’s theme was authors I’d like to meet. As a librarian, I attend a lot of conferences & other bookish events, which means I’ve been lucky enough to meet most of my favorite authors already! So I decided to talk about 5 authors I’d like to meet and 5 characters I wish I could meet.

FIVE CHARACTERS I WISH I COULD MET

1. Abby Ives from The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Abby is fat, queer, pink-haired, and in love with fashion. This novel was such a fun summer read and Abby was such an endearing character who was awkward, driven, and real. I loved reading about her colorful, daring outfits and kept wishing I knew Abby so we could go shopping together.

2. Emika Chen from Warcross by Marie Lu

Emika is definitely one of the coolest characters in contemporary YA! She’s a gamer, hacker, and bounty hunter who is fearless. She’s fiercely independent and such a strong young woman. She’s got morals, knows what is right, and will fight for that. Plus, she has rainbow hair!!)

3. Anise Sawyer from Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

Anise is a strong, super-cool surfer girl who does’t let being in Nebraska stop her from going on adventures. When she has to leave her Santa Cruz lifestyle behind to help care for her family, she picks up skateboarding and challenges herself to learn new skills. I love how she adapts to change and doesn’t let life get in her way.

4. Polly from Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

Polly is the ultimate BFF to the main character of this novel, Hermione, who is a sexual assault survivor. Polly believes Hermione without question and supports her in any way she can. She protects and loves Hermione and always gives her the space that she needs. Polly is a great example of what allyship should look like, and the kind of friend every girl needs.

5. Janna from Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

Janna is such a wonderful character that I loved reading about. She’s a normal teen girl who’s dealing with identity, love, family, and the aftermath of sexual assault. Janna’s trying to figure out who she is and where she fits into the world, and that makes her such a real and relatable character.

 

FIVE AUTHORS I’D LIKE TO MEET

 

1. Shaun David Hutchinson

Shaun’s definitely one of my favorite authors, and one that I wish had been writing books when I was a teen! I’d love to meet him to talk about how big of an impact his books have on teen readers and how he blends sci-fi with contemporary fiction in such unique ways.

2. Akemi Dawn Bowman

Akemi captures what being biracial is like so accurately, and she writes about mental health so honestly. Both of her novels are so special to me and I’d love to meet her to learn more about where she gets her inspiration from!

3. Julie Murphy

Julie Murphy writes such fearless and unapologetic characters and is definitely one of my favorite authors ever! I’m always obsessing over the cute pictures she posts of her dog on Instagram and definitely want to meet her (and the dog) someday.

4. Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is such an incredible writer and I think he could just be making small talk about the weather and I would be so interested in the conversation. I’ve loved every single thing I’ve read from him and know that meeting him would be a life highlight for me.

5. Ashley Herring Blake 

Ashley Herring Blake is an author I only started reading recently and I’m obsessed. I so want to meet her to thank her for writing queer kidlit and talk about ways to normalize queerness in middle grade fiction.

 

What authors or book characters do you wish you could meet?