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RE: Friendship in Children's and Young Adult Literature
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From: Barthelmess, Thom <tbarthelmess_at_dom.edu>
Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 19:17:38 +0000
One of my favorite stories of friendship is Lynne Rae Perkins's All Alone i n the Universe, the sort of pre-companion to her Newbery-winning Criss Cros s. I love it not only because it is a beautiful portrait of the unpredictab le and shifting allegiances of young friendship but because it is about not hing more than that. There are lots of books in which friendship plays an i mportant role in the handling of a more difficult problem. But losing a bes t friend because that's how childhood works, that strikes me as a rare them e. Also, this is one of my favorite audiobooks of all time (side note to Ho pe Davis: please narrate more), though I think it's only available in audio cassette.
Jerry Spinelli's Crash takes an incredibly unlikely friendship and makes it utterly believable. The premise--agressive jock and bullied nerd become fr iends--seems too nutritious to be credible, yet Spinelli more than pulls it off. It is tender and fresh and affirming.
Finally, I'm compelled to mention Adam Rapp's new verse novel, The Children and the Wolves, in part because it is haunting me, and in part because it gives us a very different picture of young friendship. Here, the relationsh ips between the three young central characters (I don't know if they can fa irly be called protagonists) who kidnap and hold hostage a four year old gi rl, are nasty and co-dependent, yet they are tied together by toxic bonds t hat are the sort of friendship that grows up in the absence of love and car e. The book fascinates (and horrifies) me in lots of ways, but the picture of the underside of friendship is visceral and chilling.
Happy Friday! Thom
________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2012 8:38 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Friendship in Children's and Young Adult Literature
It's time to start our discussion for the first part of May: BFF: Friendsh ip in Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
Friendship is an enduring theme in books for youth. From tales of kindred spirits (e.g., Bridge to Terabithia) to group dynamics (e.g., Harry Potter ), the ins and outs, ups and downs of friendship have been richly explored. When it comes to realistic, memorable portrayals of friendship in books f or children and teens, what titles stand out to you, and why?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 19:17:38 +0000
One of my favorite stories of friendship is Lynne Rae Perkins's All Alone i n the Universe, the sort of pre-companion to her Newbery-winning Criss Cros s. I love it not only because it is a beautiful portrait of the unpredictab le and shifting allegiances of young friendship but because it is about not hing more than that. There are lots of books in which friendship plays an i mportant role in the handling of a more difficult problem. But losing a bes t friend because that's how childhood works, that strikes me as a rare them e. Also, this is one of my favorite audiobooks of all time (side note to Ho pe Davis: please narrate more), though I think it's only available in audio cassette.
Jerry Spinelli's Crash takes an incredibly unlikely friendship and makes it utterly believable. The premise--agressive jock and bullied nerd become fr iends--seems too nutritious to be credible, yet Spinelli more than pulls it off. It is tender and fresh and affirming.
Finally, I'm compelled to mention Adam Rapp's new verse novel, The Children and the Wolves, in part because it is haunting me, and in part because it gives us a very different picture of young friendship. Here, the relationsh ips between the three young central characters (I don't know if they can fa irly be called protagonists) who kidnap and hold hostage a four year old gi rl, are nasty and co-dependent, yet they are tied together by toxic bonds t hat are the sort of friendship that grows up in the absence of love and car e. The book fascinates (and horrifies) me in lots of ways, but the picture of the underside of friendship is visceral and chilling.
Happy Friday! Thom
________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2012 8:38 AM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Friendship in Children's and Young Adult Literature
It's time to start our discussion for the first part of May: BFF: Friendsh ip in Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
Friendship is an enduring theme in books for youth. From tales of kindred spirits (e.g., Bridge to Terabithia) to group dynamics (e.g., Harry Potter ), the ins and outs, ups and downs of friendship have been richly explored. When it comes to realistic, memorable portrayals of friendship in books f or children and teens, what titles stand out to you, and why?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
---Received on Fri 04 May 2012 07:17:38 PM CDT
