Summer is winding down (say it ain’t so!) and the new school year is approaching. Get into the back-to-school mood with our senior superlatives for characters in the class of 2015–2016. What superlative would you award your favorite character?

Best frints: Yelfred and Omek (Best Frints in the Whole Universe); Thunder and Lightning (Thunder Boy Jr.); Harry and Winnie (Finding Winnie); Dude and Bro (Surf's Up); School and Janitor (School’s First Day of School); Tru and Nelle (Tru & Nelle)

Honorable Mention: everyone in the Horn Book Magazine May/June 2016 Special Issue: Collaborations

Cutest couples: Simon and Baz (Carry On); Kate and Violet (You Know Me Well); Vic and Mad (Kids of Appetite); Adelaide and Alexander Hermann (Anything but Ordinary Addie: The True Story of Adelaide Hermann, Queen of Magic)

Most magical: Annabel (A Most Magical Girl)

Most dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg (Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War)

Best best man: Archer (The Best Man)

Best dressed: Malaika (Malaika's Costume)

Best Instagram: Art Kane (Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph)

Best bathing suit: Mr. Hulot (Mr. Hulot at the Beach)

Best storytellers: Wink (Wink Poppy Midnight); Henrietta (Written and Drawn by Henrietta)

Best pranksters: the Terrible Two (The Terrible Two Get Worse); Maggie and Lena (Nothing but Trouble)

Best outside-the-box thinker: Fuzzy (Fuzzy)

Best inside-the-box thinker: Isabel (The Girl with the Parrot on Her Head)

Life of the party: Pan (I Am Pan!)

Biggest bark: Emerson (Emerson Barks)

Biggest badass: Little Red (Little Red)

Biggest animal lovers: Viv (Follow the Moon Home: A Tale of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles); Cody (Cody Harmon, King of Pets); Henry Bergh (Mercy: The Incredible Story of Henry Berg, Founder of the ASPCA and Friend to Animals)

Hardest-working writer: Joan (The Hired Girl)

Most tortured artist: Sarah (Still Life with Tornado)

Best book report: Nanette and Alex (Every Exquisite Thing)

Bake-sale superstar: Alice Babette (Happy Birthday, Alice Babette)

Most improved student: the boy (Lion Lessons)

Best science projects: Maria Sibylla Merian, Mary Anning, and Maria Mitchell (Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science); Lonnie Johnson (Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions)

Most likely to work for the Smithsonian: Faith (The Lie Tree); Rachel and Samuel (Every Hidden Thing); Scruff (One Hundred Bones!)

Most likely to become an entrepreneur: Beans (Full of Beans)

Future Farmers of America: Sam (Sam the Man & the Chicken Plan); Reena and Luke (Moo); Sophie (Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer)

Varsity MVPs:

Soccer team: Nick (Booked); Owen (On the Ball)

Swim team: Louise (Goldfish); various sharks (Slickety Quick: Poems About Sharks)

Track team: 1904 Olympic marathoners (The Wildest Race Ever: The Story of the 1904 Olympic Marathon); Alta and Charmaine (The Quickest Kid in Clarksville); Izzy Barr (Izzy Barr, Running Star)

Band: Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews (Trombone Shorty); Wes, Corey, and Ash (The Haters); Sam Morris (I Am Drums); the new pianist (88 Instruments)

Choir: Bart (The Ballad of a Broken Nose); Garvey (Garvey's Choice)

Dance squad: Emma and Julia (Emma and Julia Love Ballet); Harper (Up to This Pointe); Ballet Cat and Butter Bear (Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!)

Hide-and-seek champs: Bear (Bear & Hare: Where's Bear?); Elephant (Have You Seen Elephant?); Spot (Spot, the Cat)

You’re all Miss Central Florida Tire to us: Raymie, Louisiana, and Beverly (Raymie Nightingale)

Alum who keeps coming back: Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two)

The ones we’re saddest to see go: Elephant and Piggie (The Thank You Book)

 

For more Horn Book silliness about books we love, see the 2016 Mind the Gap Awards and previous years' yearbook superlatives.