I Want a Friend!

April 1, 2017
PreS-Gr 2-The Little Princess eagerly awaits her first day of school. Unfortunately, her new classmates are less than welcoming, and she retreats to a solitary place, sad and dismayed. To her surprise, the Little Princess meets other lonely students, and together they form a band of friends. They play together, sit together at lunch, and support one another. At the end of the day, the Little Princess reaches for her coat and crown to head home. Her new friends are shocked to find out that she is actually a princess! The Little Princess invites all of her classmates to her castle for tea, including the children who ignored her in the beginning. This is a simple and straightforward tale that celebrates friendship and inclusion. The bold, cartoonish illustrations will hold the attention of younger children, particularly in a storytime program. With its clear message about reaching out to outcasts, this is a versatile book: it is a perfect prompt to discuss bullying and cliques with children, to affirm the importance of friendship, and to introduce the concept of empathy. VERDICT This is a sweet offering that will resonate with children and encourage them to befriend others, and it would be a valuable addition to any library collection.-Katherine Hickey, Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma City

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017
Preschool-G Lonely and bored at the castle, the Little Princess eagerly looks forward to making friends on her first day of school. After Molly, Polly, Agnes, and Willy refuse to play with her, though, she approaches all the other solitary children on the playground. They play together, share their treats, and commiserate, soft-pedaling their friendless state: It's not so bad. When the school day ends, the Little Princess realizes that all her classmates, even the initially rude ones, have become her friends. The light-handed text draws no conclusions, but the expressive, colorful line-and-wash illustrations show that the many children who think of themselves as having no friends are soon acting more cooperatively and having more fun than their classmates. The disparity between the repeated phrase the children with no friends and their depiction as an increasingly happy, cohesive group could open up an interesting discussion in the home or the classroom. A simple, satisfying picture book on a timeless topic: making friends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
This time around, the Little Princess starts school, where making friends is a royal challenge ("We don't want to play with YOU"). But when her group of social outcasts outnumbers the excluders... This is yet another winner from Ross, whose light hand produces endlessly appealing illustrations embedded with gags, as when the Little Princess hangs up her "hat" (crown) at school.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)