The Year of the Book

The Year of the Bookby Andrea Cheng

146 pages for early middle readers wishing for ways to understand the complications of friendship

“We read to know we are not alone.” C.S. Lewis
Anna reads all the time. The wonders and adventures found in books seems safer than those that surround her now that she is in fourth grade. It is easier to be with a book than it is to be with Laura now that she is hanging out with Allison and Lucy. Anna feels different and without a friend she feels a little lost. Anna likes to read. She likes to sew. She likes to make things and create. Ray, the crossing guard, appreciates what she creates. Mr. Sheppard, the man her mom cleans for, sees her talent. But Allison, “the whispering kind of girl”, thinks she’s weird.

That’s hard. Anna wishes to fit in and be the same. If that can’t happen, Anna wishes to be left alone. But sometimes you can’t just read or be alone. Sometimes you need to help and be a friend, even when it is hard. That’s what Anna does and in the end learns some new things about herself that makes being different not so different. After all, everyone is different in her or his own way.

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