Introduction:
Friendship can be defined as a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. It could also relate to the state of mutual trust between two allied nations.

A number of books have been written about friendship. Here is a list of books that deal with the phenomenon of friendship:

1. The Friendship by Mildred D Taylor: Published in 1987 and set in Mississippi in the southern United States in 1933, this book deals with the unfair treatment of African Americans, many of them ex-slaves. It is a story about the friendship between Mr. Tom Bee and Mr. John Wallace. Years later, their friendship is destroyed by convention and Mr. Wallace shoots his friend.

2. The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling: The friendship between three main characters, Harry, Ronald and Hermione persists through seven books, from adolescence to adulthood.

3. Musicians Of Bremen by the Brothers Grimm: A traditional and often humorous folk tale about the friendship between four animals. Their fight for survival after being ill-treated and sentenced to slaughter is a must read for all young people.

4. The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseinei: Published in 2003, this is a tale of loyal friendship between high caste and low caste Afghani boys. Set against the turmoil of events arising from the fall of the Afghan monarchy and the subsequent the Soviet military intervention, the book talks about the mass displacement of Pakistani refugees, the rise of the Taliban regime and the brutalization of innocent Afghani people caught up in the conflict.

5. Circle Of Friends by Maeve Binchy: Written in 1990, the story is set in Ireland in the fictitious rural town of Knockglen during the 1950s. The story revolves around a group of University students, and includes a large cast of characters. Central to the story is the friendship between a girl from a well-off background and an orphan girl.

6. Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat: This is the story of three students in an elite academic institute, the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. A friendship develops between the three as a result of their inability to keep up with the academic pressure.

7. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne: Friendship does not acknowledge the barriers of politics or prejudice. The young son of the commandant of a concentration camp in wartime Germany befriends a little Jewish boy who is an inmate of the camp. The friendship develops and overcomes the barbed wire that separates them, but with fatal consequences.

8. Forever by Judy Bloome: The book is about four teenage friends who struggle to come to terms with their awakening sexuality. The sexually-laden content caused the book to run into trouble with censors.

9. The Six Bad Boys by Enid Blyton: This a touching story of a boy whose two friends join a gang and get into deep trouble with the law. The friendship endures, despite everything. The book is a departure from the usual Enid Blyton fare, and has been even described as an attempt by Ms Blyton at ‘social realism’.

10. The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum: This classic children’s story tells of the fantastical adventures of a young girl named Dorothy and her three very odd friends with symbolic needs. All of them, the girl, the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man journey to the Land of Oz in the hope of getting the Wizard of Oz to grant them their wishes.