A Friend Like You

by Frank Murphy, Charnaie Gordon, Kayla Harren (Illustrations)

There's nothing in the world like a wonderful friend. Friends are there to laugh with you and ready with a hug when you need one. There are forever friends and brand new friends. Friends for adventures and friends for cozy days indoors. Friends who are just like you and friends who are nothing like you at all. In this book, celebrate ALL the marvelous ways to be a friend!

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2021

Reviews

[La Coccinelle]

I picked up this book without realizing I'd already read another one from the same author and illustrator, A Boy Like You , which I read in 2019 and really enjoyed. A Friend Like You features a lovely message, some great tips on making (and strengthening) friendships, and absolutely adorable pictures.

There's something charming and magical about Kayla Harren's illustrations. A beautifully diverse array of children is presented here, anchored by one friendship between a black girl and a white boy whose relationship carries through the pages of the book. Values like open-mindedness, forgiveness, and listening are illustrated with playful images that are both sweet and poignant.

I'd recommend this one to readers looking for strong books about friendship. How to be a good friend is a topic that's always timely.

[Kelly Veatch]

This book is SOOO precious! My favorite picture book of the year so far. I'm ordering for my school library this week and will be reading it to ALL of my classes. What a great book to teach children about friendship. The illustrations are so good too.

[Sarahs Reads ToKids]

Our family loved this book!!!!

The illustrations are gorgeous as always! Kayla Harren is so talented. The book reads more like a guide for children but in a story format. The story tells children characteristics of a good friend and how to follow through with those traits.

My favorite part is when the story instructs the reader to Be an ally even when your friend isn't around. The picture on that page is so powerful and at this part of the story, the kids and I had discussion about how they could be an ally and a friend.

I would recommend that families have this book at home. It's a good read again book to remind children how to be their best selves by being a good friend. And when to realize some one is not a good friend. I would also recommend for teachers to have this book in their classroom and use it as a read aloud and then a reference for when friends have a problem at school.

[Opetoritse]

What separates this book from most with the theme of diversity is how much it features different children of the same race, highlighting the variety within monolithic categories like black and Asian. It also (narrowly) sidesteps the unfortunate trope of the white boy main character acting as the through line, instead having a white boy and a black girl become our avatar duo. Harren's lush illustrations serve admirably in the dual roles of representing the variety of physical appearance and simply being stellar eye-candy. She pulls out all the stops, effortlessly showcasing her mastery over numerous compositional techniques. The art and words work in impressive tandem on the page, weaving around each other in ways that thoughtfully influence their meaning. Murphy and Gordon have found a gentle, sagely poetic voice that explains and instructs without getting preachy.

[Pam]

Encouraging picture book for elementary level readers. Murphy shares all that is involved in being a friend. The illustrations capture the essence of being yourself and being a friend.
Use at the beginning of the school year.

[Tiffanie Kelly]

SOOOOOO GOOD.

[Jelka]

Didn't like this as much as the "A Girl/Boy Like You" books, the illustrations were especially kitschy in this one.

[Charlotte Offsay]

There are many different ways to be a friend and this beautiful new picture book celebrates them all. It also gently shows young readers how to be a good friend and is the perfect year for parents and teachers to read and re-read year-round.

[Karalee]

Loved the message and the beautiful artwork. I couldn't stop looking at the art!

[Sarah Threlkeld]

Beautiful picture book that will empower kids and make them feel seen.

[Awjtf]

Wonderful book!

[Carrie Jacobs]

Great book about how to be a friend.

[Alia W]

Oh my, my, my. This book. It has some of the most beautiful illustrations I’ve ever seen in a picture book. And the message beautifully written. This needs to be in every library. Public and personal!

[Beaches and Reads]

A Friend Like You is a true celebration of friendship and what it means to be a good friend. This is a book that needs to be read in every classroom on the first day of school. What a beautiful tool this is to teach our kids about what it takes to be a good friend. To show that ALL friendships look different and they are all special and worth being celebrated!! A Friend Like You is the latest installment of the Like You series and it might just be my favorite one yet.
One of the things that stands out to me about this amazing series is just how inclusive and diverse the pages are. For a child to be able to open up a book and see someone like them looking back is just such an important thing. I love that we see children of all different races, abilities, religions, and backgrounds playing together. I love that we see inter-generational friendships. I love that we see examples of same-sex parents. These may seem like such small details but they are huge. We don't see things like this often enough in childrens literature but when we do see it is just makes me cheer!
A Friend Like You is written by the amazing Frank Murphy and Charnaie Gordon. The absolutely stunning illustrations are by artist Kayla Harren. If you haven't read any books in this series yet, I highly recommend them all. So beautifully done and so full of heart. Feel good reads that also make the perfect educational tools. A Friend Like You is published by Sleeping Bear Press.
( I received a copy of A Friend Like You from the publisher for my review. All thoughts and opinions are always my own.)

[Miriam]

Freundschaft wird hier sehr schön mit wichtigen Themen behandelt. Sehr divers!

[Y.Poston]

A very sweet and timely encouragement to make friends

[Ashley Jones]

“A Friend Like You” by Frank Murphy describes the qualities it takes to be a friend. The illustrations show a variety of different kinds of friends and how someone can be a friend. It shows how friends can have different interests and still be able to hang out while simultaneously doing what they enjoy doing. There is an image about standing up for friends from bullies, and encouraging those to be there from a friend when they are feeling down and alone. The illustrations portray the words beautifully in showing diversity and inclusivity. This is a great book about friendship because it shows the many different ways a friendship can work. There are also great adjectives in front of friends to show which kind of friend the reader can be, then it follows with scenes that pertain to those adjectives as examples. Johnson describes in “Through The Sliding Glass Door: #Empower the Reader” how “books function as windows [for those readers to] see people, experiences, or worlds removed from their own”. This is important because this book does have illustrations of a girl with a robotic leg at the end of the book, or a boy in a wheelchair. There is also a look into one girl’s memories of her baking, knitting, describing her memories. A girl celebrating Hanukkah is seen lighting a candle with her friend. These are all examples of how a child can be looking through someone else’s experience that they may not be familiar with, but can start learning and asking questions.

[Lauren Dressel]

This book explores the theme of friendship and the process of making new friends at a young age. It highlights important traits for building strong friendships, such as acceptance, flexibility, forgiveness, and open-mindedness. Each page introduces a different quality essential to friendship, and the illustrations effectively represent a diverse range of identities. I especially appreciated the "acceptance" page, which emphasizes that friends can look alike or different and may share similar or varying beliefs. I can see myself using this book in my future classroom to help demonstrate the importance of community and friendship. While my students may not all become best friends, the book encourages the idea that they will respect and accept one another.

[Manar Salama]

A Friend Like You is an extraordinary book that celebrates friendship and togetherness. This book goes through many different characters showing their support to one another all whilst giving each other good advice to keep. Each piece of advice the characters give one another is also expressed by pictures for the readers to see. This book expresses themes of friendship, uniqueness, unity, and kindness. This is a great book for students especially at the beginning of the school year to really set the tone for students being great peers to one another. I would recommend this book for classroom levels kindergarten to third grade.

[Anna Tharp]

This is a beautiful story about being a good friend who loves, supports, shares ideas, and accepts each other for who they really are. It explains the importance in understanding that friends can like different things, have various personal interests and still support one another with compassion and kindness. The author explains the value of listening, flexibility, forgiveness, acceptance and more in friendship and how there can be friendship in many different kinds of ways. This is such a powerful message to teach children and use in the classroom in the beginning of the year to develop expectations of what friendship looks like.

[Alysa Fenner]

This book does an amazing job at teaching about the importance of friendship and how to be a good friend. It also has so much representations from people of all different cultural backgrounds to couples that aren't cis-het. This was a sweet book, and a good book to read to a young person who is beginning to make friends.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

This books is beautifully illustrated and a true celebration of friendship and what it means to be a friend. Characters of diverse abilities, body types and races are present throughout in a way that feels both natural and intentional. I think this book is important because it answers the questions, "what is a friend?" and "how do I love this person?".

[Tippy Bhan]

A Friend Like You is a lovely and inspiring book about the power of friendship. This beautifully illustrated book commemorates the most fruitful and enriching relationship in our lives, one that will last a lifetime. Friendship transcends all diversity. An inspiration to read with your children to encourage them to not only make friends but also be good ones.

[Peacegal]

Delightful illustrations and a valuable message for kids (and adults). We all want friends, but most of us struggle to be a good friend at certain points in our lives. This colorful, upbeat book models what good friendship looks like.

[Audrey Pollard]

This book is about how to be a good friend. How to care for your friend,how to make friends, and how to comfort your friends when they are down. It shows that being a friends to everyone is very important.

[Jo Oehrlein]

A list of different ways to be a friend to someone.

I could see using this in a character lesson or in a Sunday School lesson on showing love to others.

[Rebecca-Lynn]

Amazing, Incredible, Fantastic! Incredibly diverse picture book. Possibly my new favorite picture book series.

[Em]

A children's book that talks about how to be a good friend. Words cannot express how wonderful I think this book is!

[Jennifer]

Subtle LGBQ pictures. Words are charming. Good story about being a good friend.

[Tracy Fry]

Great diversity in this book, beautiful art and wonderful message. Great for older pre-k and older story time.