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Summary
Summary
From acclaimed author and translator Elisa Amado and award-winning illustrator Alfonso Ruano, My Friend is the story of the meaning of friendship in the life of an immigrant child.
Friendship -- to be known, to be accepted as you are, to feel safe, especially when you are vulnerable. The girl in this story has recently arrived in Brooklyn with her family. On her very first day at school she meets a girl who almost instantly becomes her very best friend. She feels known, loved and accepted by her. But when she invites her friend to come for dinner with her family -- a family that feels free to eat weird food and, even worse, burst into song with their version of a sentimental classic of longing and homesickness -- something shifts and she no longer feels safe at all. What will it be like tomorrow at school?
Award-winning illustrator Alfonso Ruano's art beautifully depicts the depth of feeling that the friends experience in this story from acclaimed author and translator Elisa Amado, about how difficult it is to come from somewhere else and what a difference friendship can make.
Key Text Features
song lyrics
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
Author Notes
Elisa Amado is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. Her books have been on the Américas Award Commended List and on USBBY's Outstanding International Books List. She lives in Toronto.
Alfonso Ruano is the illustrator of The Composition by Antonio Skármeta, winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the UNESCO Tolerance Award and an Américas Award Commended title; Tricycle (El triciclo) by Elisa Amado, a USBBY Outstanding International Book; and Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds by Jorge Argueta, which was featured on many lists, including USBBY's Outstanding International Books and ALA Notable Children's Books. After three decades as the art director for Grupo SM, the world's largest publisher of Spanish-language children's books, he has left to devote more time to illustration and painting.
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
An unnamed upper-elementary-age Latinx girl meets an unnamed white girl on her first day at a new school, and an instant rapport is formed.She watches her new best friend's favorite TV programs; the blonde girl's favorite book is now her own: "cross my heart and hope to dienow it's my favorite book, too." After the Latinx child invites her friend over for a special dinner, it is extremely awkward; the resulting embarrassment and anger make the child yearn to return to her country. She wonders, if her friend really doesn't know her at all, what will happen to her if no one in the entire school understands her either? Yet despite the disaster, when she sees the blonde girl waiting for her in front of the school, she realizes that they are still best friends. Amado's portrayal of the special bond between an immigrant and a white North American is disturbingly unbalanced. The new girl, presumably from Mexico due to Ruano's illustrations highlighting Otom folk art in her home, absorbs the friend's interests without any reciprocity. The invited girl has trouble finishing her dinner. "But that was okay. You'd never eaten our kind of food before." The blonde laughs when the Latinx girl and her father sing a song that reminds them of home. "That was so weird!" There appears to be no real communication throughout the storyalmost the entire relationship is inside the Latinx protagonist's head.An unsuccessful attempt to showcase the bridging power of friendship between cultures. (Picture book. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A young girl narrator, unnamed and new to school, reminisces on the best friend she immediately made, detailing their fulfilling relationship, how the two shared many interests, and how they stood up for each other when other children were mean, questioning their friendship. The illustrations suggest that this is a cross-cultural friendship that is being forced across differences, and when the narrator invites her friend home, the differences become apparent in a painful way. She suspects that her friend is uncomfortable with the unfamiliar food and family behavior, and when she leaves abruptly, our narrator is mortified. This unusual story is told in an intimate second person, addressing her friend directly and keeping readers close. There is a stillness to the realistic watercolor illustrations that, combined with the narrative, create the sense of watching a film. Fortunately, the resolution is both satisfying and credible, making this book ideal for middle-school classroom discussions about our responses to difference and the manifestations of friendship.--Amina Chaudhri Copyright 2019 Booklist
