Advanced Children's Literature

Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. BEST BEST FRIENDS. New York: Harcourt, 2006.

Chodos-Irvine has done an equally splendid job on the flowing dialog and the bright, sophisticated colors that flood the pages. Rather than using primary colors deep, bright multi-colored hues are used. There is never just green, there is teal, emerald green, turquoise, and an almost lime green. There is never simply pink but fuchsia, light pink, rose and salmon and this helps give the book a feeling of 3-D texture, swirls and lines. Picking a true to life subject that any preschool child, preschool or kindergarten teacher, or parent of a young girl will recognize right away makes this book a hit, especially for reading aloud. Clare and Mary are best friends but Mary’s birthday is a bit tough for Clare as Mary is the line leader, the wearer of the golden birthday crown at snack time, and the first to get a pink cupcake with pink sprinkles. Clare angrily tells Mary that if it had been HER birthday the cupcakes and sprinkles would have been prettier because they would have been yellow. The most realistic and one of the most delightful pages is when Mary looks at her “pink dress, pink socks, pink shoes.” As we turn the page Mary is also looking at her pink underpants and we see her belly button and tummy exposed. After the outburst they play with other children during center time but have kissed and made up before the day is over. Cultural markers are gently and matter of factly portrayed. The Pre-K teacher is of Asian descent as are several students. We also see an African American and a Latino child. Chodos-Irvine has a special talent for drawing hair. Mary has wavy brown hair, Clare has dark brown curly hair, and as we look at the playroom floor we see an Asian American child with hair behind her right ear and an African American girl with a purple headband and gorgeous corkscrew curls. Young ones will laugh whether read at home with a family member or during circle/storytime. Who has not heard a pre-school girl yell to her best playmate, when things are not going her way, “Well you can’t come to my birthday party!”