Monday, July 04, 2016

Worst of Friends

Worst of Friends. Suzanne Jurmain. Illustrated by Larry Day. 2011. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the best of friends--even though they were completely different. John was fat. Tom was thin. Tom was tall and John was short. Tom was rich and John was not. John was fond of telling jokes. Tom liked to play the violin. And that was only the beginning. Excitable John could talk for five hours straight without stopping. Quiet Tom didn't say "three sentences together" in public.

Premise/plot: Worst of Friends by Suzanne Jurmain chronicles the friendship and feud of two founding fathers--both Presidents--John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The first eight pages focuses on their deep friendship. Fifteen pages focus on their very bitter feud. The cause of the feud? POLITICS, of course. The last six pages are perhaps the best of all, showing how the feud ended in 1812. The two remained friends the rest of their lives. They both died July 4, 1826.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved the narrative style. It was very conversational and reader-friendly. Not just simple enough for young readers to understand, but it was also actively engaging--lively even.

I also loved the illustrations by Larry Day. They were practically perfect in my opinion!

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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