Books on friendship good way to start 2013
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.”
Today’s reviewed books focus on friendship and what it is to be a true friend. Surely the world would be a better place if each of us was a better friend to others.
What a great way to begin 2013. Happy New Year!
The following book is available at many public libraries:
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff (Wendy Lamb Books, 165 pages)
Read aloud: age 8 and older
Read yourself: age 9 and older
On the eve of his 11th birthday, Sam McKenzie scours the house looking for his hidden gifts. When his search leads him to the attic, what he finds shocks and disturbs him greatly. A locked box with a newspaper hanging halfway out of the lid reveals a picture of Sam as a little boy. Sam wants to know what the article says, but Sam can’t read. The only words he can make out are “missing” and his first name, Sam, but a different last name: Bell.
What does this mean? Has Sam’s life been a lie? Is his gentle, loving grandfather, Mack, really his grandfather? And why does Sam keep dreaming about the number 11?
Sam needs the help of someone he can trust to read the article to him. Caroline, the new girl at school, agrees to help Sam unravel his past, and as they work together they forge a friendship that neither one had ever had before or believed could happen.
Rich and satisfying on multiple levels, “eleven” is full of suspense and certain to capture the attention of readers beginning to end.
Library: Heritage Public Library, 52 Fourth St., McDonald
Choices this week: “Bubba and Bear, Best Friends” by Kathi Appelt; “The Library” by Sarah Stewart; “The Penderwicks” by Jeanne Birdsall
The following books are available at bookstores:
A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012, 309 pages, $16.99 hardcover)
Read aloud: age 10 and older
Read yourself: age 11 to 12 and older
Ani is called “Sardine Girl,” is friendless and is, in her words, “Invisible. Irrelevant. Just an insignificant 12-year-old living in a war-torn country. At least that’s what I’d been told.” And who would tell Ani such things? Her own mother.
Her loving father has gone off to fight in Spain’s Civil War, and Ani remains with her mother in quiet Guernica, going to school and helping her mother sell sardines. When Ani meets Mathias, she not only finds a true friend, but she and Mathias also become part of a spy network to help the underground resistance. For the first time Ani feels that she belongs to something important, that her life has a purpose and that she is making a difference in the world.
Then the unthinkable happens when her small town is bombed to ruins by the Nazis, and in that instant, Ani’s world changes irreversibly. Her friend Mathias always seems to know what Ani needs and provides her with wisdom and strength when he tells her, “Life isn’t always fair. … But it’s what you do about the unfairness that counts.”
A beautiful novel of courage, friendship, compassion and making the right choices, “A Thunderous Whisper” is flawless.
Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship, written and illustrated by Edward Hemingway (Putnam, 2012, 32 pages, $16.99 hardcover)
Read aloud: age 3 and older
Read yourself: age 7
Mac was an apple, and a good apple at that. He did all sorts of things and had many friends. But one day, after falling asleep in the rain, Mac awoke to find a worm named Will who had taken shelter in his head!
The two became immediate friends and had a wonderful time playing and spending time together. But when Mac and Will got together with Mac’s friends and they saw Will sticking out of his head, they laughed at him and said, “He’s got worms! … Mac’s a rotten apple! … a) Bad Apple!” and wouldn’t be friends with Mac anymore. After some trials and tribulations and encouragement from Will, Mac came to realize who his true friend really was – Will – and “he’d rather be a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him.”
Perfect in every way, this story of what true friendship really is makes this selection spot on.
Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children’s literature. She can be reached at www.greatestbooksforkids.com.