TGIF {5}

TGIF is a fun post created by Ginger at GReads.  It’s to recap what you’ve posted about through the week and then Ginger asks a fun question.


This Friday's Question
Taking it Personal: Which books have affected you on a personal level, and lingered in your mind long after you closed the pages?


Originally I wasn't going to do a post this week, but then I thought what the heck, why not?  So here goes.

One of my favorite books as a child was My Girl by Patricia Hermes.  


"When your Dad's an undertaker, 
your Mom's in heaven, 
and your Grandma's got a screw loose... 
it's good to have a friend who understands you. 
Even if he is a boy." (courtesy of good reads)

I loved the relationship between Vada and Thomas J.  It was real and innocent.  He was a nerd and she stood up for him.  She had a crazy life and he helped her escape from it for hours a day.  I liked seeing such a strong friendship between a boy and a girl.  I have two brothers and the neighborhood we lived in growing up was always more populated with boys.  I grew up climbing trees, riding bikes, playing kick the can, going fishing, etc.  It was great to read a character who you had something in common with.  That it was okay for boys and girls to be friends without being more.

I also adore her imagination.  She was always creating stories (although they were mostly related to her deteriorating health).  While they were never about my health, I would always create stories or adventures in my mind (unlike Vada, I was never brave enough to share them).

My favorite part from the book is the quote she writes for Thomas J and shares in her poetry class.  The entire emotional aspects of the book are summed up in these few lines.

"Weeping Willow with your tears running down, why do you always weep and frown?  Is it because he left you one day?  Is it because he could not stay?  On your branches he would swing, do you long for the happiness that day would bring?  He found shelter in your shade.  You thought his laughter would never fade.  Weeping Willow stop your tears for there is something to calm your tears.  You think death has ripped you forever apart but I know he'll always be in your heart."

It's been forever since I've read this book and I can still type that from memory!  I've rambled a bit and maybe made no sense, but to answer the question, a book that stays with me always is My Girl.