A Perfect Friend [Hardcover]

Reynolds Price (Author), Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

It feels like yesterday that Ben's mother died -- but it's really been a whole year. Still, he misses her so much the sadness keeps him awake at night. Lying in the dark, the only thing that helps Ben sleep is to think about elephants, those magnificent creatures that his mother loved too. Sooner or later, the thought of their awesome grace always calms him in a way that his sad father, and his two closest friends, never can.

Though Ben feels a particular connection to elephants, just as his mother did, he has only once seen a real one -- at a circus when he was very young. So when word spreads of a small one-ring circus coming to town, Ben anxiously awaits its arrival. His anticipation is more than satisfied when he gets to meet Sala -- whose name means "Sacred Tree" -- the sole survivor of a group of four elephants poisoned by a wicked trainer. With his unusual ability to understand the thoughts of animals, Ben and Sala emerge from the depths of their grief to forge a bond that brings them both comfort and gives Ben renewed hope to face the future.

In his first book for young readers, distinguished author Reynolds Price weaves a powerful story that explores the inevitable and essential balance between joy and sorrow and the fine line between the things most exhilarating and frightening in life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

HIn his first book for children, Price pens a slow, dreamy story of a boy wrestling with grief over his mother's death. Ben Barks, now 11, and his mother used to spend hours drawing elephants and reading about them. Ben still dreams of having an elephant of his own, a friend with whom he can share his deepest secrets, in the same way he confides in his dog Hilda, whose voice he sometimes hears in his thoughts. It's Hilda who tells him, "This thing that's coming will help your whole life"Dand she's right. When a small circus comes to town and Ben meets Sala, a lonely elephant who also knows tragedy, their encounter is both dangerous and magical, filling Ben with hope for the first time since his mother died. For all the boy-animal communication, the novel is driven more by its style than its plot. The languid pace may frustrate readers or leave some feeling strangely disconnected, and it's doubtful whether the target audience will linger over the poetic elisions. At the same time, however, the beauty of the language acts as lure (a house lit up at night looks like "an old-time ocean liner, afloat and steaming toward some destination that nobody knew"), and Ben is an exceedingly sympathetic character. For those up to the challenge, here is a sophisticated, haunting exploration of grief's flickering shadows, of friendship and love and of the elusive nature of happiness. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) Business Information.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Ben Laughinghouse Barks adored his mother. She taught him to love elephants, long before he saw one. They drew pictures of them together. Now that she has died, he is left with a father, a cousin, and a friend, and struggles with his grief. He feels that he will never be happy again, and remains remote and alone in spite of their presence. He finds a perfect friend in an elephant named Sala, the greatest possession of a visiting one-ring circus. Ben finds that he can communicate with her, and they become trusty companions. Through this relationship, the boy begins to work through his sadness and is able to tell his mother about Sala when she presents herself to him in a dream. Ben tells her about his new hope and recent luck of finding his perfect friend and explains that he can now grow to be a trustworthy man with a useful job and a family. The mood is set from the start and the narrative maintains it throughout. It has a cadence of stepping footstep by footstep through Ben's life. Readers know that everything will come together and hear (rather than see) the story unfold. Unfortunately, the story is told in an adult voice, and from an adult perspective, rather than that of an 11-year-old, and it's unlikely that young readers will relate to Ben or feel his attachment to Sala.-Helen Foster James, University of California at San Diego

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; First Edition edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689830297
• ISBN-13: 978-0689830297
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,652,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Reynolds Price was born in Macon, North Carolina in 1933. Educated at Duke University and, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Merton College, Oxford University, he has taught at Duke since 1958 and is now James B. Duke Professor of English.

His first short stories, and many later ones, are published in his Collected Stories. A Long and Happy Life was published in 1962 and won the William Faulkner Award for a best first novel. Kate Vaiden was published in 1986 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Good Priest's Son in 2005 was his fourteenth novel. Among his thirty-seven volumes are further collections of fiction, poetry, plays, essays, and translations. Price is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his work has been translated into seventeen languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood and Early Sorrow, June 17, 2002

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Perfect Friend (Hardcover)

In this sweet children's story, Reynolds Price tackles one of life's most difficult subjects, a youngster's loss of a parent. Ben, who is eleven, after the death of his mother is left alone with only his father and a very old dog Hilda for company. And a couple of friends. "He was the only boy in school who had a girl for his best friend, and he could usually smile at Robin's [his cousin] joking. After his mother died, though, Ben's outlook changed; and he went on feeling sad for a long time." Rather than attempt to answer the unaswerable, Mr. Price lets Ben tell his story. And a fine and moving story it is. In this marvelous little tale, Ben prays for an elephant, the animal his mother has taught him to draw. "See, there's really no question at all that elephants are better than people. They always take care of their young, they never kill anything unless they have to, and they talk to each other over miles of distance in voices so deep we can't even hear them." This lad may be onto something here in my favorite passage from the story.

The characters are all well drawn and completely believable-- from Ben's friend Dunk to his father who sometimes handles his own grief by getting drunk. Ater all, malt may do more than Milton cab to justify God's ways. . . Ben's grief for his mother and loneliness are palpable. The story, however, never becomes maudlin. Ben copes and survives; and there is not a "grief counselor" within a thousand miles.

No one writing today is better with words than Mr. Price. His evocative, concise language is both beautiful and moving. I bet children love this story. This adult certainly did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful Surprise, February 12, 2008

By 

Rev. Barbara D. Morgan (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Perfect Friend (Paperback)

I had just finished reading "Water for Elephants."Water for Elephants: A Novel I decided to search for books by Reynolds Price at my local library. One book which my library has that I had never heard of was "A Perfect Friend," a children's chapter book. I checked it out, read it, then bought it for a friend who loves elephants. A Perfect Friend Both books are set in the 1930's and both focus on small circuses touring small towns. I learned a few things in "A Perfect Friend" that I hadn't learned in the more recent book. One of these was the fact that all elephants, male and female, are called bulls by those in the circus -- or at least in the 1930's they were. I am grateful for the serendipity that lead me to Price's book. I recommend both highly. Both are beautifully written. The protagonist in Price's book is 11. I checked the book's readability and an average reader at age 11 ought to be able to read it, or an advanced reader at a younger age. For sure, the tale and message appeal to all ages. Barbara Morgan

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unusual story about a healing bond, March 12, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Perfect Friend (Hardcover)

It's been a year since Ben's mother died, but he misses her daily. His only consolation is his love for elephants, which his mother loved too - his involvement in the life of a special elephant who has been a survivor brings a bond to both which can heal in this unusual story.