The Friendly Four

by Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator)

Overview

Celebrate friendship with Coretta Scott King Award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist!

Drum is worried that summer will be a bummer until Dorene, Louis, and Rae enter his life unexpectedly. Together they embark on an unforgettable summer of discovery and creative play.

With free-verse poetry perfect for reading aloud and inspired illustrations, this picture book by the legendary author/illustrator team follows four children as they explore the bonds of friendship, family, and community.

"Fun for reading aloud." —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060007591
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/13/2006
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,126,476
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Eloise Greenfield’s first book was published in 1972. She was the author of forty-eight children’s books including Honey, I Love and Other Poems and The Great Migration. She received many awards, including the 2018 Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Eloise was a beloved children’s book creator whose pioneering voice, especially for the Black American experience, has made her an inspiration to many generations of readers. 

Jan Spivey Gilchrist is the award-winning illustrator-author of seventy-four children's books. Dr. Gilchrist illustrated the highly acclaimed picture book The Great Migration: Journey to the North, winner of the Coretta Scott King Honor Award, a Junior Library Guild Best Book, an NAACP Image Award nominee, a CCBC Best Book, and a Georgia State Children's Book Award nominee. She won the Coretta Scott King Award for her illustrations in Nathaniel Talking and a Coretta Scott King Honor for her illustrations in Night on Neighborhood Street, all written by Eloise Greenfield. She was inducted into the Society of Illustrators in 2001 and into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent in 1999. She lives near Chicago, Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

"This accessible and well-written book has a nostalgic tone." — School Library Journal

"Lively, occasionally rhyming poems celebrate the friendship of kids from different families. Fun for reading aloud." — Booklist

"Idealistic and nostalgic Perfect for classroom readers’ theater or as a way for a young child to share reading with an older sibling or parent." — Horn Book Magazine

"A lively tribute to children’s imagination as well as an inviting introduction to free verse." — Kirkus Reviews

"Has an open accessibility, with its big print and visually inviting pages, and an upbeat warmth." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

"Lively, occasionally rhyming poems celebrate the friendship of kids from different families. Fun for reading aloud."

Booklist

"Idealistic and nostalgic Perfect for classroom readers’ theater or as a way for a young child to share reading with an older sibling or parent."

Horn Book Magazine

"Has an open accessibility, with its big print and visually inviting pages, and an upbeat warmth."

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Gr 2-4-Free-verse poems tell the story of a group of children who find each other during one otherwise lonely summer. Seven-year-old Drummer is anticipating a "Bummer Summer": "Summer's a bummer,/nobody to chase,/nobody to catch the ball/I throw./Hurry up, September!/Get here, fall!/so I can be with/all my friends again." Before long, though, Dorene moves in down the street. Then Louis arrives. The last of the group is Rae, who's sent to stay with Dorene and her family because of her mother's illness. The African-American friends all bond, play, and build and paint an elaborate cardboard town they call Goodsummer. The simple watercolors work well at setting scenes of tidy streets lined with homes and lots of backyards and parks. Gilchrist's talent shows in her use of color, splashed with light, but some of her figures look a bit stiff. The children's voices are printed in different colors, making this title a natural choice for choral reading. For a younger audience than most novels-in-verse, this accessible and well-written book has a nostalgic tone-you don't see a television or computer game anywhere, and the children's play is centered on activities such as dress-up, slides and swings, and playing school.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Four new friends turn a dull summer around with creative projects and energetic play. Greenfield's form gets attention right away; the narrative unfolds via 34 free-verse poems in six parts, beginning with "One. Drummond." Drum introduces himself and describes his boredom, perking up when a new family moves in down the street. Drum and the new kid, Doreen, play a series of games. Their bright verses (and many that follow) could also be viewed as short scenes, suitable for classroom use. Louis comes next, then Rae. Each voice has its own color-red, green, blue and purple-as they talk to each other and plan. The quartet is crackling with ideas, like a makeshift town made out of cardboard and paint in Drum's back yard. They act out various scenarios in their town's many establishments. Gilchrist's watercolor illustrations work in harmony with the text, in a variety of configurations vis-a-vis the verse. All that can end this summer idyll is the start of a new school year. A lively tribute to children's imagination as well as an inviting introduction to free verse. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews

"Lively, occasionally rhyming poems celebrate the friendship of kids from different families. Fun for reading aloud."

Booklist

"Has an open accessibility, with its big print and visually inviting pages, and an upbeat warmth."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books