Friends Come in all Sizes

by Raven Howell, Audrey Day (Illustrator)

Overview

Patience and kindness are important when you want to make new friends, but it's hard not to consider what it would be like to have a gangly giraffe or chilled-out polar bear as a pal.

A friendship mission prompts two boys to regard would-be companions of many shapes and sizes, and their imaginative adventures hatch brand new, unexpected buddies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781956357295
Publisher:	Lawley Enterprises LLC
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	2 - 10 Years

Editorial Reviews

2022-06-22
In this picture book, a child considers befriending different animals before meeting the boy next door.

“I’d like to have a little gnat / but dad says gnats are tiny. / I couldn’t pat a teeny gnat / and some of them are whiny,” the tan-skinned narrator explains. This initiates a rhyming series of adjudications on members of the animal kingdom who might be his friend, but are unsatisfying for some reason. It’s too hot where he lives for polar bears, and his house is too small for elephants—which introduces the revelation that the protagonist has just moved and is lonely. Day’s digital paintings in textured brush strokes illuminate Howell’s story, though the level of creativity varies. The reasons for the animals’ dismissals are a bit dubious, and the rhymes are cutesy—a porcupine won’t do because “if I’m spiked from his dislike / I might get very sickly.” Still, the child enjoys meditating on their traits—until he meets Florenzo, a neighbor boy with dark skin who likes exploring. The boys search for pirates in the park and imagine a bird egg will hatch a dinosaur. Once another kid appears, friendship is straightforward—character development is not this story’s aim. “Imagination is a friend. / It strums a happy song” concludes the sugary verse, a little discordantly. But children looking to make friends after a life change will be heartened and comforted by the potential for finding pals in unfamiliar places.

A simple, bright, if sentimental, tale of a new friendship and fresh beginnings.

Kirkus Reviews