Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever - A World War II Scrapbook By Beverly Patt
Grades 4-8

Best Friends Forever is a stellar example of a first person narrative for your upper elementary or middle school students. It is set up to look just like an actual journal with pasted or taped in photographs, newspaper clippings, pressed flowers, ticket stubs, invitations and even a bandaid. It's a World War II scrapbook kept between two girls who are best friends. Louise Margaret Krueger is a 14 year old white American girl and Dottie Masuoka (also 14) is a Japanese American girl. When Dottie and her family are sent to internment camps during the war the girls keep this journal of notes and letters back and forth as a way to stay in touch. It covers the time period on World War II beautifully and explains the horrors of the internment camps, but also doesn't lose sight of the fact that it's truly about these two friends and what is important to them in their early teen years. Whether you're looking for historical fiction, journal writing, or just a great story of friendship I would highly recommend sharing this one with your female students

No comments:

Post a Comment