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Unlikely Friendships & Avoiding Assumptions
By Oliver Perry, Read to Them Staff
Happy Wednesday one and all! We hope you are enjoying the adventures of Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi. What has been your favorite part so far? Your favorite character? Perhaps you are as drawn to the friendship between Kenny and Grahame as we are. Have you ever stopped to think: how odd, a rabbit and a dragon as pals? They have so many differences, and yet, so much in common! Today we are going to look at their friendship, unlikely as it is, and talk a bit about how wonderful these kinds of friendships can be.
Kenny and Grahame’s friendship isn’t so easy at first. Kenny reads in his bestiary that dragons are “slithery, scaly, and very fierce-looking.” (17) In fact, he even says to Grahame, “You’re considered a ‘devil’ and a ‘scourge’ to society.” (26) All Kenny knows about dragons is from books and the scary stories told by his father and others. However, Grahame is truly gentle, smart, well-mannered, and kind.
Grahame has his own assumptions about the animals of society. According to him, they either offer him food and drink, or hunt him down for no reason. Once the pair get to know each other, however, they find shared interests, such as good food and books. They enjoy each other’s company: Kenny enjoys Grahame’s stories, and Grahame likes that Kenny is a good listener.
Do you think you could be friends with a dragon? What about someone who you have your own assumptions about? Someone who’s different from you? Maybe some of us have made some of these unlikely friendships. I know I have. I can remember one of my very first friends, Vanessa, who lived at the bottom of my street. To me, a friendship with Vanessa would have been very unlikely. She was a girly-girl; she liked to play with dolls and dress up, while all I wanted to do was run around and play sports.
However, Vanessa had a pet ferret named Hershey. I always wanted to pet Hershey, and one day I went to her house and just asked. She let me pet Hershey and even hold him, and that day we found out we had a ton in common! We both liked pets, playing tag, and playing kickball. Vanessa became a good friend of mine, and I wouldn’t have ever thought she would be. Luckily, I mustered up the courage to talk to her, and through shared interests, I found out she was super cool!
Friendships like these exist around every corner. We all have assumptions about others, but we should never let them stop us from trying to uncover those friendships. At the very least, we’ve learned from Kenny and Grahame we should always be kind to those that are different from us.
We can never know the untold stories and the behind-the-scenes experiences that those around us have. Let’s make a commitment to treating everyone, regardless of our assumptions and differences, like friends. Who knows, maybe you’ll make some new ones along the way!