A feel-good picture book about best friendship told with dry comedy and an open ending―squirrel and mushroom are best friends until another best friend comes to play.
This morning when I was out walking, I found a best friend. At least I think so. It certainly looks a lot like it! He really has a best friend kind of face.
In this funny picture book exploring a forever childhood question about friendship, squirrel and a mushroom explore the forest through the seasons, show each other special trees, build snow mushrooms, share the good times and bad―which become good bad times alongside a friend.
Then spring arrives, and so does a new friend. And then another. This raises a profound question for an overthinking squirrel: should we have just one best friend?---from the publisher
32 pages 978-1776575732 Ages 4-7
Keywords: friendship, humor, fun, squirrel, mushroom, new friend, seasons, trees, dealing with feelings, dealing with emotions, If You Liked Norman Didn't Do It by Ryan T. Higgins, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old
******
Other reviews:
"This book is adorable!"―starred, Youth Services Book Review
*******
All Squirrel wants is a friend and the day he was out walking in the forest and met Pock the Mushroom, he not only found one but Pock became his best friend. Usually he only found pinecones but everyone knows that best friends don't fall from trees like pinecones. They enjoyed exploring the forest as the seasons changed, and there were new things to show each other and do together.
But when Spring came, Moo Mosquito joined them and before long, was showing them new places and things to do, like eating blackberries and skipping stones across the water. And then they were joined by Gunther... Squirrel wanted just one best friend and now there are three....
This is a deceptively simple story with minimal text that tells of Squirrel's quest for a friend, accompanied by stunning illustrations that carry it along perfectly. But it sets up a question that is going to encourage young readers to delve deeper into the meaning of friendship and all its ramifications - can you have more than one best friend? If best friends are those with whom you share your deepest thinking and are there for you no matter what, making even the bad time not-so-bad, is there room in your life for more than one? Do you exclude someone new because you already have your one best friend? How does that make the newcomer feel?
As little ones spread their wings and explore the world beyond family, there is a lot to learn about how to be a good friend, and there are endless books and lessons devoted to this, but A Better Best Friend takes those a step further. What is a best friend? What qualities do they have that makes us want to be and share with them that we hold back from others? Can we have more than one? Is one BFF better than the other? Or do different friends fulfil different needs in our lives? Can the intensity of friendships ebb and flow, perhaps even disappear over time? What happens when the person we consider our best friend wants to play with someone else? What could happen if Puck and Gunther wanted to have a card game just for two? Is that okay? How would Squirrel feel? Are our friends "allowed" to have other friends?
Just like Squirrel's dilemma, the answers are open-ended and like the final picture in the story, the reader has to draw their own conclusions. There may not even be a definitive answer, but reflecting on the possibilities can only prepare them for those inevitable changes that are going to happen, because just as the seasons change and bring new opportunities throughout the story, so do life's circumstances and situations.
Any story that helps our children understand the world better, particularly those things they are likely to encounter, and develop strategies to deal with them so they navigate them with as little stress as possible, has a place in the mindfulness curriculum and this one, with its appealing characters should definitely be there.
Recommended by Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales Australia
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
