Friendships come in all sizes, shapes, and purposes.  A friend can be the dog that grins with doggy-breath curled up next to you, taking up most of your bed. A friend might be the kid next door. You’ve shared bikes, rides, rope swings, and toothbrushes since kindergarten. Or a friend can be a chicken! What fun to explore that possibility as Maya Angelou‘s My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me takes you to Africa.

Sometimes a friend is imaginary but helps you become more “real” or encourages you to explore where you have never dared go  before  – even where you are not supposed to go.  In A Beach Tail, by Karen Lynn Willams, someone imagined this type of friend and had quite an adventure.  Thus, beware!  Friends can cause trouble!

Friendships can be a surprise, unexpected, maybe sharing sandals with a homeless kid who doesn’t look like you or speak your language but also has no home and is lonely.  We read about this unlikely friendship in  Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khandra Mohammed, illustrated by Doug Chayka.

Or a friend  is someone who needs your help – perhaps to cross a river to freedom, the river in Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges.

Next week – books about other types of friendships will be described.