Tina and David by Joan Tate

Tina is 10 years old when she first meets David. He is an extremely shy young boy who cannot seem to speak to people. Tina is the only one in their classroom that makes an effort to communicate with David. She finds a unique way of helping David to communicate. She begins writing notes to him. Soon everyone is asking Tina to "ask David" whenever they need to communicate with him.

Years have passed and Tina has moved on to a career in a factory. She hasn't thought of David since their year in school together. One day she sees him in the same factory she works in. Soon after as she is waiting for the bus she sees a piece of paper sticking out of a knot hole in a tree. It turns out David has recognized her and has taken up their old form of communication.

David is still the tongue-tied boy that he was when he and Tina were 10. He is able to communicate enough to get by in society but he leads a very lonely life. David is comfortable with Tina, she doesn't try to push him to talk.

This is such a sweet story! It was one of my favorites when I was a young teen. Because I was a shy person the characters struggle with communicating touched a familiar cord in my own young self. I love revisiting books that are old favorites. I re-read this as part of the Contentment Reading Challenge:

Tina and David was first published in 1966, I don't think it is in publication any longer. I'm curious to know if anyone else out there has read it. Let me know!