Making Friends through Books

Froggy's best friends come from books.  She talks about the characters in her favorite books as though they are real and her dearest friends.  Her dolls change names as her favorites shift. This deep bond is part of why she likes series so much.


Some of her newest friends are Tova, Pippi and Greg

One of her Hanukkah gifts was the first two books of the Tova Bloom series.  Tova and her five sisters live in Philadelphia during the American Revolution.  What makes Tova special to Froggy is that Tova is Jewish.  The book does not focus on Tova's Judaism but it is sprinkled with Yiddish phrases and off-hand references. Tova is a middle child who for the most part is a regular girl.  It is bittersweet watching Froggy's dolls become Tova's sisters and see the love they share with one another and the antics they engage in.  Tova calls her father Tati, which is what Ms. G calls her father too. That clinched it for the book and made Tova "real".

Froggy also received the first three books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  Greg is in middle school and his problems/antics are not really part of Froggy's world yet.  I would not have thought this series appropriate for her yet but a classmate of hers was reading it and her father gave a high seal of approval.  What makes this series special and attractive to Froggy is that it is written like a graphic novel or comic strip.  As you can see, the pages / layout of the story is very different than the average book.  One of the skills an emerging reader needs to develop is being able to pull information from various styles of texts.  This book is a fun way to work on that skill.

The last friendship was exciting but short lived since her story was a one shot.  We spent about two weeks listening to Pippi Longstockings.  Pippi is a very very unusual girl.  her adventures and choices sparked tons of conversation for us.  "Why did Pippi do...?" or "What would you do if I. [did whatever Pippi had just done]?" were frequent questions from Froggy during this time period.  Pippi is somewhat magical in stregnth and agility but most of what makes Pippi so unusual is that she grows up without any adult guidance and thus has created her own version of 'appropriate' which is very peculiar.