Family and Home Are Vitally Important to Children

Author Cynthia Lord uses two protagonists, Tess and Aaron, as character foils to demonstrate how important the presence of a loving, supporting family is to a child's development. Tess exemplifies a well-adjusted child from a healthy family structure, while Aaron exemplifies a child seeking that familial connection with someone after being in multiple unhealthy and unstructured homes throughout his childhood.

Family and home are vitally important to children, argues Cynthia Lord in her novel Touch Blue. As a child grows and develops, family and home give children a sense of purpose, direction, belonging, and love. In the novel, family and home are what Tess has, and what Aaron seeks.

Readers learn early on that there is nothing more important in the world to Tess than her family. She loves her family deeply, and is utterly devoted to them. She...