It’s back to school time! So today’s Perfect Picture Book Friday pick is FRIENDS (Mostly). As new students start school and old students return to new classrooms, children will make new friends, some will lose old friends all will hopefully learn what friendship means and how to keep them intact.

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Written by: Barbara Joosse

Illustrated by:  Tomaso Milian

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2010

Suitable for ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: Friendship, Jealousy, Kindness and Caring

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Brief Synopsis: This book is about how two best friends make up when one allows jealousy to tear them apart.

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Opening pages:

Ruby and Henry, 

Henry and Ruby,

Usually we’re friends, but sometimes we’re unfriends.

It all depends.

Why I like this book:  The title tells all, you can be friends (mostly) and you can be unfriends too. Friendships often hit rough patches and kids need to find a way to work through those times. When Ruby is teased because she can’t float like her best friend Henry, she lashes out at him. And then she decides to walk away from their friendship. In the end, the two friends work out how to remain friends. A wonderful lesson for showing children what friendship looks like and how friendships work. And even when bad feelings come between friends, sometimes only one act of kindness can save a relationship.

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Resources: [spacer height=”10px”]

• Friendship Is In Our Hands lesson from The Corner On Character blog.

  

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• Describe A Friend activity. Visit Michelle Dupuis Education. [spacer height=”10px”]

  

[spacer height=”10px”] To read other Perfect Picture Book Friday reviews from today, head over to author Susanna Hill’s page. [spacer height=”10px”]

Happy reading!