That sentence that sovay highlighted was the same one I was going to quote--it's really beautiful in all its parts. I think the part about friendship being more than a mere desire to help someone in trouble in particular speaks to me.

Did Bruce Brooks write this one before or after the one you read that was so distancing. (It's funny, "Bruce Brooks" is the name of a UMass professor of Chinese history, so that's what jumped into my mind when you gave the name--but apparently, as I do a little digging, that Bruce Brooks has a first initial E in his name: E. Bruce Brooks. No secret career as a Newbery contender.