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Finding Friends in Kids Books: An Exclusive Guest Post by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Author of The School for Whatnots
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Margaret Peterson Haddix’s latest sci-fi infused thriller is as thought-provoking as it is page-turning. Exploring themes of friendship, identity and privilege, The School for Whatnots is a twisty mystery sure to please young readers. Keep reading to find out what Margaret Peterson Haddix loves about Kids’ books about friendship.
When I was a kid, I felt like every book I picked up was a chance to make a new friend. Pippi Longstocking, Encyclopedia Brown, Meg Murry from A Wrinkle in Time, Claudia and Jamie in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler… Who wouldn’t want to be friends with those fascinating (but admittedly sometimes slightly prickly) kids?
When I read Anne of Green Gables, Anne herself gave me the words to describe what I sought in books: a kindred spirit. Whether I loved the characters because they were a lot like me or because they were intriguingly different, I savored every kindred spirit I met in books.
So I have a particular soft spot for kid books with friendships at their very heart — something that I tried to show in my book, The School for Whatnots. Max and Josie (and then, Ivy, too!) have to grapple with lots of twists and turns and surprises at their school and in the world around them. But what drives them? Finding a way to stay friends when the adults around them say it isn’t possible.
Here are five other recent kid books I loved, with friendships in the midst of unusual challenges:
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Avery is an anxious kid; Bett is fearless. They live on opposite coasts. When their fathers fall in love and plan to marry, the two dads cook up a scheme to send Avery and Bett to camp together to get to know each other better. Nothing goes as planned, and both hilarity and heartache ensue. But throughout, both Avery and Bett shine — and so does their friendship.
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (B&N Exclusive Edition) (Sal and Gabi Series #1)
Carlos Hernandez
5
BN Exclusive
$7.99
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The multiverse! Disappearing and re-appearing raw chicken! Extreme magic tricks! With a title that refers to breaking the universe, readers have to expect a little chaos, and Sal and Gabi definitely deliver. But the book is also full of heart, and Sal and Gabi’s evolving friendship is a big part of that. (Bonus: Cuban food! Cuban American culture! Cuban Spanish!)
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Sometimes kids mess up. Sometimes kids hurt a friend — or potential friend — without fully understanding their own power until it’s too late. And sometimes it starts seeming like aliens are real. Those concepts may sound unrelated, but Keller brings all those themes together brilliantly. When extraterrestrial-seeking Jennifer Chan goes missing, it forces her neighbor Mallory to re-examine everything she thought she knew about both friendship and whether we are or aren’t alone in the universe (or in life).
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As a kid, I adored Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess as a tale from the past. The Gilded Girl is a charming retelling, with magic and updated sensibilities cleverly added in. Emma begins living a life of privilege: rich, kind-hearted, adored. When she’s suddenly orphaned and left penniless, it at first appears that she’ll also be friendless. But Emma is more resilient than she seems, and so are the kids (and house dragon!) who help her. This is a fiery story, but what Emma and her new friends conjure up is both heart-warming and hopeful.
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Maybe it’s not fair to include a book about a Mars rover — a thing — in a list of friendship books. But the rover named Resilience (or Res for short) is a great friend to humans and objects alike in this tale of a journey to Mars and back again. Like many kids, Res struggles to understand human emotions — even as he demonstrates a huge capacity for love.