Today is…friendship day. Friends are people who come running when you are in trouble, who share your enthusiasm for books, who argues with you and tells you the truth, who talks you off the ledge when you’re freaking out about stuff that shouldn’t matter, who don’t care if you text them random messages like “cat butts,” who will have a conversation with you in emoticons, who you want to cherish by clutching your friends close to your bosom, never letting them go.

In honor of this day, I want to talk about my favorite children’s/YA friendships. When I was coming up with this list, I could only come up with groups of people. And that really bugged me. I wanted to think of a female friendship I loved and I couldn’t think of one immediately. In the words of my best friend: “That is a damn shame.” (That was her response when she couldn’t think of one too.) Hopefully, I read more books that contain a female friendship. 

Until then, these are the friendships I adore and admire.

Every list should always include the friendship between Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Grainger. The awesome trio. They were such a formative part of my childhood. They were the ideal friends who stood by each other no matter – family problems, bullies, mysterious creatures, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I admire their strength, their bravery, and their loyalty. They prove that as long as you have each other, you can overcome any problems.

I always wanted a big group of friends like The Basic Eight, where each person has a role they’re fulfilling in the group, where the group had an awesome name its known by, where we had dinner parties, where you can hang out in smaller groups. I was always envious of people who hung out in groups because they had multiple best friends. 

I love this group of friends. Despite their differences and ill feelings toward each other because of territory issues, they still came together and helped each other out. They became friends without realizing it, and that’s the beauty of friendships. You become friends with the people you least expect you would. 

The friendship between Kat and Hale is really adorable. You wouldn’t have thought a thief and a rich kid would get along. I like that they weren’t romantically involved in the first book. They were friends first, and they have a lot of respect for each other. They are protective of each other. They are always there to knock some sense into each other’s heads when they are doing something really dangerous. Friends always have each other’s back. 

Their friendship makes me cry. They were faced with so many problems that having friends would help in overcoming those life changing decisions and problems. I didn’t want to see them fall apart. Taylor and her friends are very reminiscent of this group of friends – three Jellicoe kids, a Townie, and a Cadet.

Anne Shirley and Diana Barry is one of the best female friendships I’ve ever read. Kindred spirits, or a bosom friend, as Anne Shirley would say. Their oath to each other, to be friends with each other forever, tears at my heart. Although they just met each other, Diana was willing to make that oath to Anne. That’s friendship. 

Like Harry/Ron/Hermione’s friendship, you can’t help but admire the Marauders’ friendship. They were a loyal bunch (with the exception of what Peter Pettigrew did later on). They broke Wizarding law to help each other out (like becoming Animagi to help Remus during his transformation). They cared for each other like they were family and they were family. 

I’m thankful that I have my friends. They’re always there when I’m happy or depressed. Always there to cheer me up. Even though some of my friends and I do not get to see each other often, when we do meet, it’s like no time has passed at all. Without them, each day would truly be joyless.