LET'S PLAY!

A friendship primer for the primary set.

While this picture book isn’t necessarily set in a post-pandemic world, its overt social-emotional lessons will doubtless prove useful and relevant for many children coming out of varying degrees of social isolation. The writing style verges on the expository with narration that reads like a voice-over in a documentary that records the experiences of a red-haired White girl named Sukie as she enters a new school. Her class has 15 other pupils, some of whom also appear to be White while others seem to be children of color, including one child who wears hijab. Larmour’s art style has shades of Quentin Blake, Bob Graham, Amy Schwartz, and Aliki, with lots of bright colors, expressive linework, and emphasis on character over setting. Themes of sameness and difference, loyalty, and sharing along with a range of emotions are explored in small moments that follow Sukie and her classmates as they form friendships and build community. An author’s note acknowledges that “this book doesn’t show things going wrong between friends, even though sometimes they do. Instead, I wanted to focus on what it can look like when friendship goes right.” Honestly, it looks great, and this affirming, practical, engaging picture book will be a terrific resource for young readers to befriend.

Let’s read this one.