Friendship in Children's Literature.

 'Children's literature' is a term generally used to cover all literature for children and adolescents, including oral literature, such as fairy tales and nursery rhymes, graphic narratives and young adult literature" (Bland, 2013). Friendship is a huge theme in children’s literature for the young audiences. Many books teach moral lessons on how to be a good friend, and how not to be a bad friend. They teach the importance of honesty, trust, mutuality, and compassion. Friendship themed books are perfect for young children because once they start school, they will need to learn how to make friends and maintain a good relationship with their peers.

         Authors use their writings as a tool to get their messages about friendship skills out to the younger audiences. Many children’s books are available on the topics of friends, socializing, conversation, and playing together (DeGeorge). Authors who write about friendship hope to reach out to the children that can relate to the characters in the story. Frequently, the main character and his or her closest friend portray the friendship (like in Jungle Book).There are many ways an author can write about friendship depending on what message they want to give their readers. For example, an author can write about how the main character is caught in a situation where he or she has to lie to their friend. The author then shows the readers that the consequences of lying to a friend can be bad. Young children then learn how lying hurts people's feelings, and it can have a negative effect on making and keeping friends. In addition, if the author writes about the character being honest to his or her friend, the young reader then learns how honesty is important in friendships and leads to trust and mutual understanding.

         Another common subject writers use in children's books is the importance of sharing in making friends.  The simple act of allowing a peer to play with one's toy leads to enjoying each other's company and sharing common interests. They also learn mutual understanding and how to give and take.

         Making friends is important to children starting at a young age. Not only is it important for social emotional adaptation but also for children’s academic achievements (Van Acker). A school environment can be stressful at times for young children, for example types of stress for children might be; not understanding the material in the classroom, not having to play with anyone at recess, or being victimized by their peers. Research has shown that children who do not have friends can suffer from emotional and mental difficulties later in life (Ferrer & Fugate).  Children's literature provides creative ways to teach children friendship skills.  The stories provide a way for children to learn how to make friends by relating to the emotions of the characters and learning to pay attention to their own actions and behaviors (DeGeorge). Learning these important socializations skills will help children to build meaningful relationships as they progress through adolescence and into adulthood.

        Now let's see how theme of friendship is can be studied through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, here we get to see two generations of friendships: those between Harry and his friends in the present day, and those between Harry's father, James, and James's crew while they were students at Hogwarts. Before coming to Hogwarts, Harry is completely isolated. Not only does he not have a loving family environment, but he does not have any friends to serve as a support system. After becoming a student at Hogwarts, however, Harry quickly creates a large group of friends but, more importantly, a close relationship with Ron and Hermione. Yet for much of the novel, Hermione finds herself at odds with Ron and Harry. First for having a pet cat which Ron thinks she has, so it can eat his pet mouse. Secondly when Hermione tells Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt broom that Harry mysteriously receives at Christmas,which makes both Ron and Harry angry. This suggests that at times, being a good friend means going against a friend's wishes with the understanding that, eventually, the angry friend will appreciate the gesture and concern. Here Rowling draws a more obvious parallel between friendship and difficult life challenges: the only way that Harry is able to reach the Mirror of Erised in the dungeons of Hogwarts is with Ron and Hermione's help. Hermione and Ron both tackle specific challenges that Harry would have been unable to face on his own.

‘We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.’
                     ~Dumbledore

The Harry Potter series is all about friendship – after all, where would Harry be without Ron and Hermione? But the famous trio aren’t the only friendship that we see in the books. Apart from this trio, we have more trios: Malfoy and his friends, who have an equally strong bond as Harry and his friends.

Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit.”

~ Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were the Fred and George of their day – sneaking out when they were supposed to be in bed, stealing midnight snacks from the kitchens and creating incredibly complex magical artefacts just for fun. But their friendship isn’t just based on fun. Once the friends discover that Remus is a werewolf, they don’t reject him – like Remus always feared they would. In fact they take it upon themselves to turn into unregistered Animagi so that they can keep Remus company as animals while he deals with his ‘furry little problem’. That’s true friendship.

“Harry — you're a great wizard, you know."
"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him."Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry — be careful!”

~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

While having one best friend is pretty great, having two is even better. Fred and George have their finishing-each-other's-sentences brotherly bond, but while at Hogwarts they had an honorary member of their uncontrollable, trickster team: Lee Jordan. Given the closeness between Fred and George, it would have taken a pretty magnetic personality to become a part of their circle – and Lee Jordan had magnetism in spades.

Whether rushing off to see Lee’s alleged giant tarantula on the Hogwarts Express, or sneaking around because he thinks he’s discovered a new secret passageway out of the school, Fred and George – while still a troublesome twosome – always had room for one more in the friendship.

             Apart from the theme of good should triumph over evil and the power of love, we also learn how happiness can be found in difficult times, “happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”, this quote from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The other lessons we get to learn are though these quotes “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.” This quote from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban shows us that all of us are capable of both good and evil. What matters is our choices, that is what defines us. Another inspiring quote from Harry Potter is “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” This line shows that people are defined by how they treat others, especially those who can do nothing for them.