Making Friends is an Art

I am a HUGE fan of children’s literature. I especially love books and stories that have a message.

Julia Cook’s book, Making Friends Is an Art! is a book with a wonderful message for children! This book teaches children how to get along with others in order to have true friendship.

After reading this story, my daughter felt inspired to write a story of her own. She asked me to share it with you, so here it is:

Hi. I’m Brown and I have lots of special pencil friends: Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Light Green, Dark Green, Blue, Purple, White and Black. Each one has a special talent to being a good friend. As for me, I have it all. Well fine, I used to have no friends. I was a real grump. I rarely got used, but now I am happy for who I am. Here, let me tell you a story…..

Yesterday, Black, Pink and I were out on a walk when Pink and Black left, I went to the park There, I met a lonely pencil with no box. His name was Grey. I offered for him to join us at school. When he came, he immediately started bossing us other pencils around. He said things like, “No don’t colour like that. I’ Grey and I’m smarter than all of you little, stupid pencils combined.” At the end of the day, Pink came up to talk to me. She said, “Grey is very bossy. He makes me feel like I am nothing. I wonder if he even has a talent like all of us other pencils?” I told her that he does. I heard Blue mumbling to herself, “Hmph! That Grey is so bossy. I mean, he guides us in the right direction, but in a bossy way.” Then, Blue moved on and I said, “Ah-ha! Grey has a talent after all. He guides us in the right direction. I get it! He guides us, just in a bossy way. I will tell him how we feel.” After getting some good advice from my friend, Teal, I told Grey how his bossiness made me feel and I explained to him that if he changed the way he guided us that he would have ore pencil friends than to know what to do with.

The next day, Grey apologized to all of us for being so bossy and then we all became friends. During art class, the teacher asked us to draw a rainbow with all of the colours that you own. We were so happy and we all coloured for the rest of the class. Days passed and we became good friends with Grey. I made sure to call Teal to thank him and tell hi about how we solved the problem. He told me that he was proud of me and it made him hapy to know that he could help.

The End.

What I loved was how much this book about building relationships affected my daughter and how she was able to express her learning by writing such a beautiful story!

What is your favourite children’s story with a message?
Has your child ever written a story that made you smile and feel proud?