Depictions of the one child family in books

[BoccaDellaVerita]

Following the thread about where the desire to have a family of a particular size comes from, I've been thinking about the depiction of families in children's books. Of course, most families have more than one child and it's not surprising that children's books reflect this. A few that come to mind from my youth are

Narnia Chronicles 4
The Railway Children 3
Ballet Shoes 3
My Family and Other Animals 4

BabyBocca is a voracious reader and I'd like to find her a book which depicts an only child (and ideally as part of an ordinary family set-up, rather than (say) an orphan). Milly Molly Mandy is the only one I can think of but surely there are others.

Any suggestions?

I came on to say Charlie BUcket, especially as he is an only child who is portrayed as less spoilt and indulged than other children.

What about Calvin & Hobbes Even well adjusted Susie is an only child

moomintroll

Diggory is the boy in the Magician's Nephew. Can't remember the girl's name, but I think they have at least 3 parents between them.

Mary Hoffman books. Amazing Grace etc for younger readers and a lovey one of which
I have forgotten the title but his parents are separated and his father becomes a travellor. For older readers, Stravaganza and City of Masks.

Inkheart by Cordelia Funke. Film has bad reviews but great book.

Arrietty in the Borrowers - the book or the English TV series, not the American film.

Ooh yes - Calvin

And there's the great strip where he explains to Hobbes that eating sugar-loaded cereals and watching cartoons first thing on a weekend morning has prevented siblings so far

Takver and FrannyandZooey - Exactly. It's interesting, I think, that being an only is something that often has to be explained or justified in terms of being an orphan or losing a parent, rather than just being. I shall read some of these books - some of which I read decades ago and forgot about, some of which I've never read - and then write a thesis!

I love Calvin and Hobbes! What about Peanuts? I think a lot of the children in that are onlies. It is a very good question Bocca has asked, and as a parent of an only son, I too am keen to find good books with positive depictions of singletons. What about Stig of the Dump? Isn't the hero an only?

I guess yes to Gemma, but isn't a real point made of the fact that she is weird, as opposed to those oh-so-boringly-normal siblings.
Margaret Thursday from Thursday's Child is a better only I reckon, although she is an orphan

Oops, x posted. I look forward to your thesis, Bocca

I loved The Good Master and The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy - an only child in that comes to live with her uncle and his family. She's not an orphan - can't remember why her father can't look after her. They are beautiful books.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

There are lots of one -child families in books and films, probably because it makes the plot a little messy to include extraneous characters.

One-child families do very well in literature.

very interesting question! i can't think of any in the stories i loved as a child other than george in the famous 5 but yes she was a little odd but also a really independant clever leader (she was my hero when i was little!). i loved little women when i was little but there was loads of them march girls. really can't think of any only children as main characters in children's books, how sad.

I really don't think it has much to do with the special qualities of one child families. It is purely to help the plot. You either want lots of kids, or a sidekick or whatever, or you don't.

pointy name some

The Family from One End Street - bear with me, I know the family has seven children - but the third in the trilogy (Holiday at the DewDdrop Inn) is about Kate, the "clever one", going on her own to convalesce in the country at the Dew Drop Inn - I am one of three (very close in age) and used to reread and reread this - the idea of a delicious respite from my sisters was heavenly!

well, just been to see inkheart. Meggie.

ummm, lyra in northern lights - we've been watching that agin. And Tom, I think, the boy she hooks up with.

Dustbin baby was on tv recently. Particular circumstances, I know, but the same effect for the writer - only having one child to focus on in teh family.

erm, George in George's marvellous medicine, I think.

Was Milly Molly Mandy?

Let me think more. I know there are loads.

Geporge in Stuart Little. You really cannot count a mouse despite what they all said.

Aha! Dd2 loved the Josie Smith stories. They are fab. A mother and her one daughter.

The girl in The Enchanted Horse. Wasn't she an only child?

how about the guy who wrote skellig? erm david almond
he likes onlies
again because the children need to be in vulnerable situations imo

cosmic features an only ds
do his others?

pointydog - I'm not suggesting that only children are under-represented in children's fiction. Clearly, looking at the answers here, they're well-represented. Nor am I suggesting that one child families are superior. They're just different - obviously - and I was trying to remember books in which they appear. Reading is about the suspension of disbelief and my daughter is happy to read all kinds of books but in that mix I would like to include some in which the family looks like ours.

I don't mean to be sharp, bocca. I understand you were just asking a general question.

That's OK, pointydog. Have some champagne!

francis hodgson burnett-little princess and so forth-an only. though mainly an orphan.

Was edmund in chronicles of narnia not an only?

this is suprisingly hard...