SIDEKICK: Huckleberry Finn
FAITHFUL COMPANION OF: Tom Sawyer
Almost a decade before he became the protagonist of his own novel, Huckleberry Finn was the amiable co-conspirator in Tom Sawyer’s various schemes. Together, they witness a graveyard murder (committed by the fearsome Injun Joe), run away from home to pursue a career as pirates, witness their own funerals, and discover a box full of gold. And through it all, the unschooled but wily youngster, “cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers in town,” shows the all the native courage and decency that will serve him so well in the subsequent (and wholly superior) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
INTERESTING FACT: Among the many actors who have played Huck Finn on film are Mickey Rooney, Ron Howard, and Elijah Wood.