Friendships

by Budge Wilson

Friendships is a subtle and moving collection of stories about surprising moments of understanding from unlikely sources. In “The Snake,” a girl faces her fears with help from a strange ally; in “Father by Mail,” a teenager writes down all the things he could never say to the parent who has left him behind; and in “Bruno,” a boy discovers a way to deal with a bully. These perceptive and contemporary stories, by one of Canada's best-loved and award-winning authors for young readers, show struggling boys and girls making a connection with someone who can bring them to a kind of balance.

Genres: Young Adult, Canada, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Budge was educated in Halifax schools and at Dalhousie University (degree in Philosophy and Psychology, Diploma in Education, Physical Education teaching certificate). She did two years of graduate work in English at the University of Toronto, and worked at the Institute of Child Study (U. of T.) for four years--filing, illustrating, editing, writing. She illustrated three books for the University of Toronto Press, worked for several years as a freelance commercial artist and child photographer, and was a fitness instructor from 1968 to 1989. She has been writing juvenile and adult fiction since 1978, with her first book published in 1984. Her work has been published in ten countries and in seven languages.

After living in Ontario for over twenty-five years, Budge and Alan returned to Nova Scotia in 1989, and live in a small fishing village on the South Shore of the province.