“They have to have been married,” says a school friend struggling to comprehend Brett's status. Meanwhile, by steering clear of a book bearing such socially tragic la bels, the rest of us would miss meet ing an extraordinary, dear, funny bunch of almost ordinary people: 11‐ year‐old Brett, who worries that her mother will get married and turn normal kooky, competent Mom - photographer, peace‐marcher, icono clast in blue jeans who treats her daughter as a full‐fledged person: Grandma, who never quite comes to terms with her daughter's way of life Grandpa, as enviable a father figure as any girl could wish - a sensitive, compassionate psychoana lyst who keeps an imaginary alligator in his tub Theo (whom Brett dubs The Wolf Man), a bearded bear of a man who teaches the mentally re tarded, bakes bread and talks “in this very regular way, as though he didn't know you were a child and he wasn't” and all the other friends with their very human problems fa miliar to children's lives though not often to their literature. Or a mother who wants help explaining the neighbors' whispers. Or a sad eyed child of dubious parentage who is seeking self‐affirmation. Unwed mothers‐Fiction”? Presum ably, a few liberal teachers bent on expanding the reading syllabus into “socially relevant” areas. But who is going to track down this remarkable book under “1. There's no denying that this is a story about a fatherless girl and her unmarried mother. We call them “unwed mothers” and “illegitimate children” - two categories which just happen to coincide with the Li brary of Congress catalog listings as signed to Norma Klein's novel, “Mom, the Wolf Man and Me.” Society has a name for such unfortunate deviates from the American norm. Mothers and children who fail to satisfy the above qualifications are somehow rendered less sacred and less precious.

But only when they're born after the wedding. But only when it happens to married women.Ĭhildren are precious.

Just Friends by Norma Klein