Friendships in Teen Literature

Romantic partners come and go...but friends are FOREVER.

Romance is great and all, but let's not forget our friends in the midst of all those butterflies, yeah? Friends will be there to pick you up when you're down, to remind you when you're being dumb and to keep you from making stupid choices. Friends keep you honest, and they never tell the story about that one time when you walked straight into a glass door. (Not that that ever happened to me.)

Here are some books that feature strong friendships.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan has a lot of relationships, but the friendship between Will and his BFF, Tiny, is my favorite. Tiny is larger than life - literally - and is everything a best friend should be. Loyal and supportive but also willing to tell Will when he's being a jerk.

The friendship in Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity between Verity and Maddie is beautiful and heartbreaking. This book made me want to hug every one of my friends. I cried more at the ending than I did reading The Fault in Our Stars. Seriously.

And I can't forget The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares. Major life changes like college and boy/girlfriends can drastically change friendships, but my favorite part of the series is seeing a group of girls manage to keep in sync throughout all that life throws at them.