Who's my favorite fictional character?

Truth is, I don't read all that much fiction -- I'm a history buff and, God save my sorry soul, waste all too much time thinking about contemporary events; by which I mean, watching most of what I love about America swirl down the toilet.

But, okay, my answer (with my wife's guidance) would be: Penrod Schofield, of the vintage Booth Tarkington series. Read them as a kid, then read them again to my kids, and unbelievably politically incorrect as they are, they hold up wonderfully. Penrod is a sort of Little Rascal of literature, an absolutely authentic kid, bored by school and baffled by much in the adult world, but up for almost anything that smells like fun, regardless of consequences, which are often dire. Though anyone who published him today might well be prosecuted, he reflects a simpler, more honest time when boys were boys and girls were girls, men were men and women women, and no one was confused by any of it.