It happens to me all the time. I’m reading a book and find myself connecting with the best friend character, even more so than with the main character. Maybe it’s because the author has brought me so far inside the skin of the main character that I can’t separate myself from her, so I end up loving who she loves. Or maybe it’s because I’m a tad weird. One of the two.

I’m drawn to funny, vulnerable characters with lots of heart. They’re not perfect and not attempting to be. They’re trying to do what seems right, even if it means telling their best friend what a bone-headed numbskull she is. Because that’s what friends do: they do the hard stuff.

Even in my own writing, I have a special place in my heart for the main character’s sidekick. She’s flawed and tough and making it up as she goes along, which makes me want to eat her up with a spoon.

What kind of sorcery did these authors visit upon me to make me love these best friend characters so much? Here are a few examples of my favorite BFFs from some well-known children’s literature.

Ron Weasley, from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series. Even though I was in my twenties when I met and fell in love with Hogwarts, I saw a lot of myself in Ronald Bilius Weasley. Has a million siblings? Check! Late bloomer? Check! Family doesn’t have much but they do have tons of delicious food at every meal? Check! Takes forever to cotton on to the obvious? This is an especially uncomfortable Check! I’m always interested to read characters who are economically disadvantaged, and it’s refreshing to see a poor family depicted as having honor, respected by peers in their community, and accomplished in their fields. Money doesn’t equal value. Also, Ron is witty, loyal, vulnerable, flawed, and a ginger. What more can you ask for in a best friend?

Samwise Gamgee, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series. He’s barely tempted by The One Ring. And when he did suffer a small teaspoon of temptation, his will to dominate took the form of wanting to become a master gardener planting megaflora all over Middle Earth and creating super boss veg gardens. I can get behind an agenda like that. His most prized possessions – which he humped on his back all the way to Mordor – were his pots and pans and a box of salt. Food and plants; this is a hobbit with proper priorities who should be revered the world over. Also, there was the small matter of his seizing the ring from Frodo’s lifeless body and thus preventing the orcs from gaining possession of it, as well as carrying Mister Frodo up to the lip of Mount Doom when his master was too spent to carry on. He saved the world. We should all be so lucky to have a Sam in our lives.

Aech, from Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. This character doesn’t get a ton of “screen time”, so to speak, but what is there is rich indeed. Interactions with this character always left me wanting more (in a good way). He has all the best lines and one-liners. His true identity is a mystery (as is that of most of the characters in this novel) but even when we do learn more, it made me even more curious. The untold story of Aech’s quest for the egg could be nearly as interesting as that of our main character, Parzival. This is one of those instances where an author could have told a story of a quest from another character’s point of view and still have an entertaining thrill ride on their hands. I’d buy that book. Twice.

Leo Valdez, from Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. I’m a Riordan fan from back in the Percy Jackson days, so I was ready for the action-packed excitement of The Heroes of Olympus books. I’ve always enjoyed the people who populate Rick Riordan’s books: a wonderful mix of characters from diverse backgrounds and circumstances. I admire his characters, but I wasn’t expecting to fall in love. My man Leo Valdez is fluent in four languages: English, Spanish, Greek, and Morse code. Both of his parents were mechanics (his father being the Greek god Hephaestus), so this boy has mad building skills. He has a tendency to fall easily into, and be fairly unlucky in, love. His constant practical joking and sense of humor bring a ton of fun to the story, but also mask a lot of self-doubt and pain. He’s not just a one-man, walking joke machine. He’s got a complex inner life that is a joy (and heartache) to read. This rich variety of traits lends my favorite demigod a three-dimensional quality that makes him leap off the page.

Butler, from Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series. Butler, the manservant/bodyguard, is the perfect counterbalance to Artemis’s cold calculation. Although he is an adult employee of young Master Fowl, his relationship with Artemis grows into more of a big brother/mentor role. He’s described as a hulking, killing-and-maiming machine, but he has an emotional intelligence that his employer sorely lacks. Butler doles out relationship advice very sparingly but when he does, it’s to great comedic effect. Remember at the start of this blog post where I said I loved characters who aren’t perfect? That doesn’t apply here. Butler is the perfect man: smart, strong, discrete, respectful, professional, well-traveled, well-dressed, loves his little sister beyond measure, and can cook. And in my mind’s eye, he resembles a gigantic version of Jason Statham, so that doesn’t hurt a bit. I bet he smells nice, too.

The moral of this story: these authors engaged all of my senses to bring these funny little oddballs to life. Every time I open these books, I’m fortunate to have all these BFFs in my life.

AMY KURTZ SKELDING is a middle grade fiction writer and podcaster. Find her on Twitter at @akskelding and the podcast at kidlitdrinknight.com.