Thursday, April 26, 2018

A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You

A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You. Joan Walsh Anglund. 1958/2017. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: A friend is someone who likes you. It can be a boy... It can be a girl... or a cat... or a dog... or even a white mouse.

Premise/plot: A Friend is Someone who Likes You was originally published in 1958. It was recently republished in a teeny-tiny size. The theme is friendship. The opening pages keep it quite simple, but, as the book progresses so does its complexity.

My thoughts: I liked it. The illustrations are sweet. The theme is sweet as well. It doesn't say everything there is to say on the subject of friendship. But what it does say is true enough. I have never found a special friend in the wind, a tree, or a brook. But I can easily imagine Anne Shirley doing so! My friends were mainly BOOKS. This little book doesn't include books as potential friends. But I forgive it that slight sin!

Last sentence: But everyone...everyone in the whole world has at least one friend. Where did you find yours?

Two of my closest, dearest friends were "found" because of a mutual love of books. 

© 2018 Becky Laney of Young Readers

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