Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Books About Friendship'.

I am really quite excited about this topic. I think it's because I really like books that focus on a friendship or have friendship as a theme. It really adds something to the story, and friendship is important to me as a person.


1) 'The Butterfly Lion'; Michael Morpurgo. 

This is one of the first books I remember reading about friendship, between a young boy and a chalk-white lion. Michael Morpurgo was a favourite author of mine when I was younger, I always found his stories so poignant and touching. This was my favourite of them all and I definitely read it more than once. It was the book that made me love books about Friendship and so of course it made this list!



2) 'James And The Giant Peach'; Roald Dahl. 

Roald Dahl has always had a knack for telling stories that I love, and one such story was James And The Giant Peach. If ever there was a tale about friendship, it's this one! It's a little different to the usual tale, this one involves a young boy making friends with giant bugs and travelling with them to New York on a giant peach while being chased by a Rhinoceros. But that's what made it so magic, and I always loved the friendship found within this book.


3) 'The Secret Garden'; Frances Hodgson Burnett. 

Friendship was a huge theme in this book and it was one of the most charming parts to read. In particular, I loved watching Colin and Mary grow from grumpy, spoilt, lonely children into the best of friends and better people for it. All both of them needed really was a friend that didn't pander to their every need while shutting them away from the rest of the world. But it was also nice to watch Mary become firm friends with Dickon and Martha, who really taught her the value of friendship. 

4) 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.'; J.K. Rowling. 

Now this book was obviously about a whole lot more than just Friendship. But friendship was one of the most important, and in this one began one of my favourite friendship trios of all time! Harry, Ron and Hermione. I think anyone who has read and loved these books, has loved these three as a friendship group and their friendship endures over all seven books, growing and becoming the crux of the story. Agh, I just couldn't not include this one!



5) 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower'; Stephen Chbosky. 

Friendship is one of the main themes in this one and I really liked this book. Again it involves a trio; Sam, Charlie and Patrick. Make no mistake, Patrick is probably my favourite thing about the book and I adore him. I would love for him to be my friend. But generally this book was great simply because reading about the friendship between these three characters brought me nothing but joy.



6) 'Ballet Shoes'; Noel Streatfeild. 

Goodness I seem to be getting into a bit of a trio theme. I've featured this book before on a previous Top Ten Tuesday, but I felt it deserved a place here too because like the others, friendship was a massive part of the story. Raised as sisters though not related by blood, it's about three young girls who each work to achieve their dreams while struggling to deal with their own financial poverty. To do so, of course they need to work together and help each other out and I always loved the bond between these three girls.


7) 'IT'; Stephen King. 

Now  this one might come as a bit of a surprise. How can a horror story about a creature that feeds on fear and likes to dress up as a clown have anything to do with friendship? Well those who have read this one probably know that the gang of children that attempt to stave off the creature and save their town build probably one of the strongest friendships I've seen in a book. And even when they band together as adults again, they are still just like they were as children. The best of friends. It's this friendship that proves a threat to the creature and that's why it's on the list.


8) 'The Book Thief'; Markus Zusak. 

Now this book might not be about friendship as such. But it does feature the subject a great deal. The relationship between Rudy and Liesel is probably one of the sweetest I've ever seen, and special bond that Liesel builds with Max is heartbreaking to read. Yes, not necessarily a book about friendship. But it features a couple of my favourite friendships and so it had to be up here!




9) 'The Invention Of Wings'; Sue Monk Kidd. 

Yes, I bang on about this book a lot. But friendship is such a core element to this book that it was actually the first one I thought of for this list! I really liked the strange bond struck between Sarah and Handful, and I felt that they really made the book something special, as a pair. The way that their determination to stick to their beliefs developed them both into such strong young ladies who were willing to fight despite the consequences just proves that this amazing book needs to be on this list.


10) 'Deep Blue'; Jennifer Donnelly.  

This is a pretty recent read of mine actually. I really enjoyed this book though I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about it. However, what struck me most was that this book really spoke strongly about the power of friendship and said that great things can be achieved with that in mind. It deserves a place here definitely!




Phew! These topics are always so fun to answer, I can't wait till next week!