Sybylla Penelope Melvyn in 'My Brilliant Career' by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin

In her somewhat annoying literary combo of romance and realism, Miles Franklin's MBC presents Sybylla. Sybylla is memorable as the headstrong, imaginative teen stuck in the bush and mired in the 'peasantry' of colonial/post-colonial Australia.

Holden, I loved you (and Jo March, you too) -- but I loved another more.

Huck Finn shirks school, shoes and sermons, he speaks truth to power ... and at 15, his river-life sounded like bliss:

"It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened."

(Even better, he came with a warning to our high-school English teacher: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.")

Ellie from the Tomorrow series, by John Marsden

Ellie is smart, strong, tough, adventurous and sassy - a fantastic teen hero figure. I grew up wanting to be just like her.

Riley Rose in Simone Howell's Everything Beautiful - she's everything awesome.

My vote is for the angst-filled 'Greaser' who "stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house" with only two things on his mind: "Paul Newman, and a ride home." It is a powerful hero whose words resonate in your mind years after you put a book down, and Ponyboy from "The Outsiders" is to me one of the most beautifully realised portraits of teen alienation. When he stepped out of that moviehouse he walked into a brave new frontier for young adult literature, and we've been feeling the reverberations ever since. STAY GOLD, PONYBOY!!!

Jim Hawkins from R L Stevenson's Treasure Island – because he got to sail on a sailing ship in search of treasure, and play and fight with pirates! He got to take a great journey of adventure and grow and mature a lot. Also, he wasn't really as goody-goody as one first assumes, as his loyalties were torn at various points. Perhaps even tempted by the dark side of pirates, you could say.

Cassandra Mortmain from Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle" - her quirky voice and perspective inspired me to write as a teen, and all these years later, she is still one of the freshet and most lovable characters I've read. Perhaps it lacks the grit and substance of some darker tales, but there's a lot to be said for awkward desire and naivety.

Do not get to know me. Do not ask me out. Do not love me. Be warned! I am Jinx.

Jinx by Margaret Wild is the literary incarnation of the essence of teenage girl: full of bravado, yet lacking in confidence; yearning for love, yet hijacked by self-loathing; desperately hoping, yet hopelessly despairing, dramatic and fierce, yet warm and fragile.

and:

5 red cars mean that it is going to be a Super Good Day.

My name is Christopher Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.

Who didn't fall a little bit love with Christopher Boone when they read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Perhaps the most alluring things about him were his resistance to emotion and displays of affection (which worked to make us want to love him more, or at least to want him to find a way to be loved, to understand the depth of it, even if he didn't feel comfortable accepting it), his determination to engage only with facts and logic, his commitment auxiliary verbs, and his willingness to step outside the safety of his known world when every instinct in him craved for familiarity, routine and order - an act that took courage indeed.

I have always loved a good baddie, so my vote is for Eoin Colfer's creation, Artemis Fowl. With the exception of his parents and his bodyguard, Butler, Artemis treats the adults of his world with a fair disdain. More often than not this is exactly what the adults around Artemis deserve. Even as a baddie though, he is imperfect, and it is his imperfections that make the evil boy-genius a real character.

i am for cybil the head-shaven grunge maven of blake nelson's 'girl'

i know the deadline for this comp is over, but i just remembered a literary teen that has stayed with me since the day i met him so many years ago.

Emily Rodda's 'Rowan of Rin' stars Rowan himself - i'd hazard a guess at his age being 13 or 14 (coming-of-age styles). Rowan saves his village from a dragon, outlasting all of the six strongest and bravest villagers who accompany him.

One of the best books i've ever read; it and Rowan stay with me to this day.