I wrote Best Friends Forever for a contest. The assignment was to write about the diversity of American life. At first I thought I wasn’t qualified to write about diversity since I considered myself your average middle of the road American. But then I realized that some people might think I am a little unusual. After all, I am a Mennonite.
I have a friend who is Ukrainian and Greek Orthodox. The two of us are alike in many ways but also quite different from each other. I decided to write a story about two girls who were a lot like us, only young!
Rhoda Landis, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania moves to Snow Hill, Maryland for one year. In her new school she meets Nadia, a Ukrainian Greek Orthodox girl. Although the two girls are different, they become fast friend. They create wacky fun, get into trouble, share life and death experiences, and discover they don’t want to leave each other at the end of the year.
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER also includes discussion questions, craft activities, and recipes for your enjoyment and learning. (ages 7 -10)
Friendship Press, 1995
RELATED LINKS
The Ukrainian language uses the Cyrillic Alphabet.
Pysanky is the Ukrainian art of decorative Easter eggs.