Dear Toni by Cyndi Sand-Eveland, 2008, Toronto, Tundra Books. (978-0-88776-876-7).
Awards: Silver Birch Award for Fiction
Annotation: When 6th grader Gene Tucks moves to a new school, she is immediately tortured by an assignment to write in a journal for 100 days. The journal will be held at a museum for 40 years so that a new generation of 6th graders can read it. Gene reluctantly starts addressing her recipient as Nobody, then Somebody, and finally she gives the name Toni to her new non-existent friend. After following some prompts to write about her name, talents and family, Gene begins to feel more and more comfortable sharing her thoughts with paper and reveals her big goal of the school year: to find a really good friend (which isn’t as easy as she’d hoped).
Personal Reaction: This is a great little story about the meaning of friendship, family, and patience. Written in a journal style format with matching design (lined pages, hand drawn doodles) tweens will really connect with the voice on the pages as if they are reading letters from a close friend. Even though this is the author’s first book, you can really tell that she has worked with tweens long enough to understand their interests, worries, and perceptions of the world, their families, and social situations. Inspiring from cover to cover, Dear Toni is a breathe of fresh air and I am so glad I randomly selected this book from the library shelf!
Curricular Connections/Subjects/Themes: Ages 9-11. Themes of family, friendship, and being the new kid at school. Subjects include dogs, field hockey, and diaries.
Genre Label: Friendship > Fiction
It’s Like This, Cat by Emily Neville, illustrated by Emil Weiss, 1963, NY, Harper Collins. (0-06-02439-2)
Awards: Newbery Medal 1964
Annotation: 14 year old Davey Mitchell grows up in mid-century New York City, running into a multicultural, eccentric, group of people (and animals) along the way. Aunt Kate is the reclusive old cat lady who sooths Davey’s nerves after a fight with his dad. When she bequeaths one of her tomcats on Davey, he accepts out of spite towards his father, who has always told him to get a pet dog and a paper route like a real man. Davey ends up bonding with Cat, and together they explore New York City, making friends and losing friends along the way, all along learning what it means to grow up.
Personal reaction: As a book written in 1963, and with its cool, quiet tone, I can’t help but want to coin this book as beatnik for teenagers. The protagonist spends most of his time wandering New York, listening to jazz records, and waiting for postcards from friends. I think the dated content in this Newbery winner would juxtapose well with the interests and hobbies of today’s tweens and it might just reveal how much teens haven’t changed since the 60’s. Tweens still pretty much do the same things like sneak into movies, listen to music on iPods, and wait for text messages instead of postcards.
Davey wanders far and wide through this city that is brought to life by Neville’s poetic descriptions, but the true journey lies inside himself and I think tweens will relate to his turmoil with his parents, the drifting apart from old friends, getting into fights, and figuring out how to ask a girl for her phone number. Boys especially will enjoy this read, as Davey touches on the pressures his father puts on him to grow up and be man. But any tween will enjoy this book if they prefer slower paces, inner reflections, and cats.
Curricular Connections/Subjects/Themes: friendship, cats, fathers, New York, coming-of-age, love
Genre Label: Friendship > Fiction; New York > Fiction; Cats > Fiction
The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz, illustrated by Louis S. Glanzman, 1965, New York, Harper & Row. (0064400093)
Awards: 1966 Newbery Honor
The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz, illustrated by Louis S. Glanzman, 1965, New York, Harper & Row. (0064400093)
Awards: 1966 Newbery Honor
Annotation: Franny Davis is a keen 11-year-old girl living in a small apartment in Greenwich Village, New York with her impoverished family. Part of the reason her family is poor, is because her father is an aspiring artist and not the breadwinner his family needs. Mrs. Davis works long hours and dreams of having an education so that she might be an astronomer. Franny has dreams, too, like becoming a ballerina—but she can’t afford ballet lessons like Lila Wembleton can, because her father owns an entire apartment building. Her daily lunch at school is Franny’s only time to make friends, as she is busy helping at home and teaching her bright baby brother Marshall the rest of the day. It is during this “noonday friendship” that Franny spends time with her best friend, Simone Orgella, who Franny envies because of her beauty. The girls fight over a trivial matter and don’t talk for weeks, but in time, with the help of their families, realize that good friends overlook the small unpleasant things that people do, and instead, learn to just love.
Personal reaction: The first few chapters of this book give a close and intimate look at this poor family’s life, from discussing finances to going grocery shopping and coming up with games to ensure that the youngest child, Marshall, won’t throw a fit if he doesn’t get a toy he wants. Seeing such a world through the eyes of Franny gives readers insight into the emotions, actions and silence that this family encounters on a daily basis. From sensing the disappointment in her mother’s eyes every time her father comes home without having found a job, to noticing that her family doesn’t yell at each other like Simone’s family, Franny’s observations are true and poignant at times. What I love about this book is the message of love and friendship, like when Simone’s cousin tells Franny, “because the whole person is more important to me than these little pieces I do not care for, I will overlook them. Because friendship is more important than anything else, I will overlook them.” (p. 142).
Mary Stolz draws readers in with her poetic and minimalist language and gives them a glimpse of a realistic family, with a long list of troubles that they overcome together and with the help of a few good (not rich) friends. Tweens who have ever gotten in a fight with a friend will appreciate this book.
Curricular Connection/Subjects/Themes: Ages 9 and up. Themes of family, friendship, love, art, and beauty.
Genre Label: Friendship > Fiction
Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe by Bette Greene, 1974, NY, The Dial Press. (0-8037-6098-1)
Awards: · 1975 Newbery Honor
· New York Times Outstanding Book Award
· New York Times Outstanding Title Award
· ALA Notable Children’s Book Award
· Child Study Association Children’s Book Award
· Kirkus Choice Award
Annotation: In a small rural town in Arkansas, Beth Lambert is, according to her Mama, “so smart about most things,” and yet, “so dumb about Philip Hall,” a boy who calls Beth his friend when they are alone, but who shuns her in front of his pals. Strong-willed Beth won’t be disregarded by the cutest boy in J.T. Williams School, so in an attempt to win his affections, she decides to outshine him in everything from selling vegetables to calf-raising. After proving her strength, will and intelligence in a series of contests that keep wounding Philip’s pride, the two friends learn that it’s not so much competition, but working together for a common purpose that is the foundation of a lasting friendship.
Personal Reaction: Though this book was written in the seventies and makes the occasional dated reference, such factors don’t take away from the humor and emotion that breathes life into each page. Tweens will connect with the character’s torn feelings over love, family, and friendship, as this playful story unfolds in month-by-month chapters circulating around significant events: a disappearing turkey mystery, an unwanted allergy, a vegetable stand, a picket line, a disastrous picnic, and calf-raising contest. Tomboys will especially identify with the qualities in the character Beth, who blurs the lines of gender by proving she can best a boy at anything including aiming a gun, solving a mystery, racing, starting a business, being club president, and farming. Though Philip doesn’t display his emotions too strongly, he isn’t entirely defeated by Beth’s endless winning; instead, he admires her even more for being a girl “who can take jokes better than anybody” and participate in the activities he enjoys, too.
Much of the dialogue is written in the vernacular of the African American south, which adds depth and realism to the story, and immerses readers in a Black point of view without overstating issues of race during the time setting of the story. The fact that this book was written by a non-African American may raise some issues for readers, but I feel that it doesn’t take away from the overall themes of friendship, love and achievement that present valuable lessons.
Curricular Connection/Subjects/Themes: Ages 9-12. Friendship, competition, love, rural southern life, family.
Genre Label: Friendship > Fiction
The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman, 2004, NY, Dutton Children’s Books. (0-525-47182-0)
Awards: 2005 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for fiction and poetry
Annotation: An 8th grade Brooklyn boy named Anthony “Ansty” Bonano sets out on a series of scientific experiments involving his friend Calvin Schwa—a “functionally invisible” person, in order to quantify the “Schwa Effect” or the ability to go unnoticed and unseen by classmates and faculty. Turning the Schwa’s ability into a lucrative source of income by way of betting and services, Antsy and the Schwa take their exploits too far, leaving them at the mercy of legendary recluse Old Man Mr. Crawley and his beautiful blind granddaughter Lexie. Together, this unlikely group of friends gets to the bottom of the Schwa’s invisibility, revealing a moving story of abandonment, family and a quest for identity that touches the heart.
Personal Reaction: The first chapter of this delightful book is entitled, “Manny Bullpucky Gets His Sorry Butt Hurled Off the Marine Park Bridge” and from there, the book never loses its momentum. Although the title character is the Schwa, this story is really about the narrator, Antsy Bonano and his own sense of invisibility amongst his family. There is one particular scene at the dinner table, which reveals how Calvin Schwa serves as magnified projection of Antsy’s own insecurities:
“And that was that. The conversation lapsed into an endless stream of other topics, and I went back to pushing my food around my plate. They never noticed I had stopped the argument, just like they didn’t notice I wasn’t eating. Sometimes the Schwa had nothing on me.” (p. 55).
When the boys find a common love-interest in the blind girl Lexie, trouble ensues and their friendship is put on the line. But Antsy’s integrity sets him on a quest to help Calvin Schwa not only be noticed, but remembered—and this is where strong themes of friendship overflow from the pages.
I was completely transfixed by this humorously touching story about feeling invisible to the outside world. The Schwa Was Here is a work of magical realism, a story of identity and invisibility that ushers forth serious topics in a clever and meaningful way. Tweens and adults alike will love this book.
Curricular Connection/Subjects/Themes: Ages 12 and up. Themes of friendship, identity, family, abandonment, coming-of-age, and love.
Genre Label: Friendship > Fiction; Self-perception > Fiction
