The Faithfull Friend

The Faithful Friend

San Souci, R. D. (1995). The faithful friend . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

 Age Level: 5 and up

Genre:  This is a retelling of a Traditional Tale and Picture book

Summary:

This narrative takes place on the beautiful and magical island of Martinique. A young man Clement falls in love with a young girl and asks his friend Hippolyte to join him on a journey to ask her to marry him. The young girl is delighted to marry Clement and follows him and his friends back to their home. The young girl’s uncle is enraged and makes his niece pay for her defiance by making their journey home filled with tricks and traps that force Hippolythe to choose between his friend’s safety and his own. Will they make it through the journey alive? This tale is a true test of friendship and love.    

Reflection:

This retelling of a traditional tale from the French West Indies is brightly illustrated using scratchboard and oils. The illustrator did an excellent job of showing emotion on the characters’ faces. You can really get a sense of fear in the eyes of the young girl as seen below.

There is a significant use of French in this picture book. The author provides a word guide in the beginning to guide the reader on pronunciation and meaning. The use of the French language gives the book color and character. It helps characterize the setting of the story. 

This book would be great to use for reading comprehension as there is a clear order of events that take place. Along the journey back home the friend encounters three "zombies" that cast different spells on the travelers. Students could fill out a sequence of events chart to check for comprehension. 

Test-to-Self Connections

Test Quote: “Your willingness to sacrifice your life for your friend gave me the power to break the spell.”

This reminds me of... This quote defined the true theme and lesson of this story. This reminds me of how truly blessed one is to have true friends. True friends are those who will go out of their way to help you when you are in need. It also reminds me that to be a good friend is just as important as having good friends. It goes both ways.