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Re: Friendship in Children's and Young Adult Literature
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From: Monica Edinger <monicaedinger_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 11:24:59 -0400
"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both." That is, as I'm sure you all know, the unforgettable final line of *Charlotte's Web*,celebrating its 60th birthday this year. I've been teaching it for decades now and every year appreciate it more and more as a marvelous story of a remarkable friendship as well as a glorious ode to nature, to writing, and to so much more.
As for more recent books, I think of two recent award winners and the different ways they celebrate friendship. There is Rebecca Stead's *When You Reach Me*, filled with complicated friendship issues, among them the difficult reality of friends drawing apart. Then there is Rita Williams-Garcia's*One Crazy Summer* that includes tight friendship within the sisterhood of three siblings.
A new book that I (and many others) have read is R. J. Palacio's *Wonder *in which friendships are also realistically complicated. I was blown away by Palacio's sensitivity and awareness of the dynamics of friendship in middle school. The scene where the protagonist Auggie (who is physically-impaired) overhears someone he thinks is a friend trash him is so real I thought the author must have been a teacher, but she is not. Just incredibly attuned to the realities of 5th graders.
Almost every great book has great friendships, but these jumped to my mind when reading of this month's theme.
Monica -- Monica Edinger 600 West 111th Street Apt 2A New York NY 10025 educating alice _at_medinger on twitter My Huffington Post Blog
Received on Fri 04 May 2012 11:24:59 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 11:24:59 -0400
"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both." That is, as I'm sure you all know, the unforgettable final line of *Charlotte's Web*,celebrating its 60th birthday this year. I've been teaching it for decades now and every year appreciate it more and more as a marvelous story of a remarkable friendship as well as a glorious ode to nature, to writing, and to so much more.
As for more recent books, I think of two recent award winners and the different ways they celebrate friendship. There is Rebecca Stead's *When You Reach Me*, filled with complicated friendship issues, among them the difficult reality of friends drawing apart. Then there is Rita Williams-Garcia's*One Crazy Summer* that includes tight friendship within the sisterhood of three siblings.
A new book that I (and many others) have read is R. J. Palacio's *Wonder *in which friendships are also realistically complicated. I was blown away by Palacio's sensitivity and awareness of the dynamics of friendship in middle school. The scene where the protagonist Auggie (who is physically-impaired) overhears someone he thinks is a friend trash him is so real I thought the author must have been a teacher, but she is not. Just incredibly attuned to the realities of 5th graders.
Almost every great book has great friendships, but these jumped to my mind when reading of this month's theme.
Monica -- Monica Edinger 600 West 111th Street Apt 2A New York NY 10025 educating alice _at_medinger on twitter My Huffington Post Blog
Received on Fri 04 May 2012 11:24:59 AM CDT
