It seemed appropriate to talk about friends on a day when the best of friends – children’s books – were being celebrated.
We talked about friends, read about friends and thought about what friends could mean – whether they were other children, adults or books.
Specifically we looked at the problems Trevor encountered when he fell for the girl next door to the girl next door. She was pretty and smart. Her father had a black BMW with tinted windows. But was she ever going to be a real friend? (Or even a friend at all, never mind a girlfriend.)
Sam kindly explained about girls;
‘Sisters are just a nuisance – especially if they are older sisters.
Girls are the other lot in our class at school.
Girlfriends are girls that you get to kiss when you are older.
Chicks are like girlfriends, but you only get to see them in magazines and on TV.’
All of this wasn’t much help until Trevor found out that his real friend wasn’t the girl next door – but the girl next door to her!
The audience were 10-12 year-olds and they listened with thoughtful interest to the story and another one about going to a concert with Dad. There were balloons. There was laughter. It was the right kind of occasion to celebrate World Children’s book Day.
Reference: The girl next door to the girl next door was written by Lesley Beake, illustrated by Nicky Beele and published by Cambridge University Press in their Rainbow Readers series.
