Best-selling authors—and friends—Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld buddy up to create this charming tribute to friendship.
Friendshape features four friends: blue circle, yellow square, green triangle and red rectangle. With sweet, smiley faces and geometry gymnastics, they illustrate various ways friends can change each other’s lives. Flying kites, performing balancing acts, doing a happy-face impersonation—the colorful shapes remind us that friends share, laugh and back each other, even when our edges get a little wobbly. They cheer when we succeed, pick us up when we crash and help us achieve more than we otherwise could.
Adding Friendship to their collection (Exclamation Mark, Duck! Rabbit!), Rosenthal and Lichtenheld prove again they are masters of simple, delightful books with big messages. Basic statements regarding friendship are complemented by dialogue from the cheerful shapes. The authors’ clever use of four shapes and colors visually underline their theme and add a subtle note about embracing our friends’ differences.
With a message that is both straightforward and accessible to children of all ages, this book is a must-have for every home bookshelf and school library. Friendshape will be especially helpful in elementary classrooms. A useful jumping-off point for units on friends and teamwork, the bold illustrations will inspire students in artistic endeavors of their own. While kids will be entertained and amused by the antics, Rosenthal and Lichtenheld’s theme stands strong and confident.
It’s a good lesson for kids, a sentimental reminder for adults and a perfect gift for someone who has improved your life.
