In The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha by Lloyd Alexander, Lukas (self-proclaimed town laze) pays a street magician for a trick. The magician dunks Lukas’s head in a tub of water, transporting him to a distant kingdom. There Lukas is crowned monarch—but everyone thinks he’s named Kasha.

The kingdom is a disaster. The threat of war looms, and selfish ministers scheme. However “Kasha” makes some friends: a strong-willed freedom fighter and an impudent versifier. Together, the three heroes stabilize the kingdom. Kasha might just be falling in love with the freedom fighter.

Then the magician pulls Lukas’s head out of the tub of water. He’s back in his hometown, kingdom and friends gone. Was it all a dream? Lukas sets off in the hopes that his friends are real and he will be able to find them again someday.

To start a great book is to have our heads dunked in the magician’s bucket. We meet the characters and come to love them. To finish is to find ourselves pulled out. We’ve just been shown a glimpse of what could be.

My schools sent a different message—that life was about working toward a high powered career and that people were secondary. The books I read in grade and high school contrasted that message beautifully, and blew it apart. We cannot survive as atomized particles, spinning alone in the void. Let books inspire you to seek out the goodness of human connection.

What book friendships do you love?

 

SEO keywords:

  • Kaleidophone
  • Crannog
  • Gawkish
  • Kazoo