“Friends in Books,” Friend, Feb. 1972, 47
Friends in Books
Call It Courage
by Armstrong Sperry. New York: Macmillan Co., 1940.
Mafatu lives in dreadful fear of the sea until others call him a coward. Then he sets out in his canoe to conquer his fear or to be conquered by the sea. His experiences result in his returning to the village a different boy.
Tuhurahura and the Whale
by Anne Rockwell. New York: Parent’s Magazine Press, 1971.
Tuhurahura, a young Maori boy, is deserted in the middle of the sea by the wicked sorcerer Kiki. A giant whale rescues the boy, and they become lifelong friends.
Swimmy
by Leo Lionni. New York: Pantheon, 1963.
A school of small fish learns how to survive in the world of the sea by working together.
Amos and Boris
Written and illustrated by William Steig. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971.
Boris the whale does a favor for Amos the mouse. Little Amos is so grateful that he offers to help the whale whenever he can. Both soon realize that in time of need a friend’s heart is more important than his size.
Houses from the Sea
by Alice E. Goudney; illustrated by Adrienne Adams. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1959.
Two children take their pails and shovels and go down to the sea. Each time the waves run up to meet them and then roll back down the beach, they find different shell treasures and learn to identify them.