After reading Francesca Davis DiPiazza Friend Me!: 600 Years of Social Networking in America, I want to highlight my “six sensational” stories of unique friendships in literature.

1. Bear’s New Friend by Karma Wilson: What’s not to love about the beautiful pictures, vivid colors, and the collection of friends from the ground and the air that hang around with bear?
2. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen: When Terra meets Jacob in a collective quest to find inner strength from an outward ‘flaw’, they become inextricably linked.
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See: All of See’s works are gorgeous, but the historical significance and flowing language of this secret language is beguiling.
4. Chemical Garden trilogy (Wither, Fever, Sever) by Lauren DeStefano: From the eye-catching covers to the unique storyline of three girls of varying ages brought together to be wives for a man who, like them, is losing the battle with a genetic predisposition to die prematurely, the three ‘sister wives’ bond in varying ways.
5. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne: On opposite sides of the fence, the Jewish boy on one side of the fence is befriended by the Commander’s son on the other with a heart-wrenching end.
6. Selection series (The Selection, The Elite, The One, The Heir, The Crown) by Kiera Cass: Similar to DeStefano’s books, a crew of girls come together, this time in a palace to vie for the affections of a prince, with one girl seemingly disinterested repeatedly winning the attention from the prince.