Books to teach friendship
Check out some of our favorite books that can help teach kids the value of friendship!
Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Best for grades: PreK – 2
ISBN-13: 978-0064440202
From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.
Yo! Yes? by
Best for grades: PreK – 2
ISBN-13: 978-0439921855
Against pastel backgrounds, in vibrant, colorful images, an African-American boy and a white boy meet on the street. Their one- and two-word exchanges on each spread lead to a tentative offer of friendship, sealed as both boys jump high in the air and yell “Yow!”
The Recess Queen by
Best for grades: PreK – 3
ISBN-13: 978-0439206372
A fresh & original twist on the common issue of bullying. Kids will relate, & parents & teachers will appreciate the story’s deft handling of conflict resolution (which happens without adult intervention).
Hunter’s Best Friend at School by
Grade level: K – 2
ISBN-13: 978-0060753191
Hunter and Stripe are best friends. This young raccoon pair loves to do everything together, like dress in striped sweaters, read the same stories, and even eat the same lunch — a crawfish sandwich, huckleberries, and milk. But when Stripe arrives one day at school in a mischief-making mood and starts stirring up trouble in Mr. Ringtail’s class, should Hunter follow along?
My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe
Grade level: 2 – 5
ISBN-13: 978-0152061975
As Ida May begins fourth grade, she is determined never to make another best friend–because her last best friend moved away. This is a doable plan at first. Thanks to bratty, bossy Jenna Drews, who hates Ida, no one in class has ever really noticed her before.
The One and Only Ivan by
Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass
Grade level: 3 – 7
ISBN-13: 978-0545052405
It’s Amanda’s 11th birthday and she is super excited—after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she’s shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven’t shared together.
We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success by
Grade level: 6 – 8
ISBN-13: 978-0142406274
Growing up on the rough streets of Newark, New Jersey, Rameck, George, and Sampson could easily have followed their childhood friends into drug dealing, gangs, and prison. But when a presentation at their school made the three boys aware of the opportunities available to them in the medical and dental professions, they made a pact among themselves that they would become doctors.