A great list of books that deal with friendship skills and embracing who you are!
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My daughter came home from school one day last year and shared that one of her friends had kept another friend’s secret, so she knew she was a good and trustworthy friend. I was stunned into silence. When had I learned that was a good friendship skill? My twenties, maybe? Recognizing the qualities of a good friend isn’t always easy if you haven’t been taught. I know I suffered through my fair share of unkind and unhealthy friendships growing up, but what if it could be different?
What if we could explicitly teach friendship skills to our children while they’re young? Reading stories and seeing scenarios played out with characters is such a great way to learn how to be a good friend. Below, I have three different categories of books on friendship for lower, middle, and upper elementary-aged students and the topics of friendship they cover.
We’ll begin with books aimed at younger children and gradually progress toward those intended for older children as we approach the end of the list.
“Can I Play Too?” by Mo Willems— This was one of my favorite stories to read to my daughter when she was younger. The lovable snake doesn’t have arms to play ball, but that doesn’t stop the dynamic duo of Piggie and Elephant from including him in their game.
“A Big Guy Took My Ball!” by Mo Willems–This is another playful story about inclusion and finding a way to include people who might be differently abled.
“I Love My New Toy!” by Mo Willems–Another one for the littles, this is a story about managing anger and apologizing. The characters see that sometimes when we react too quickly, we can hurt someone’s feelings.
“My New Friend Is So Fun!” by Mo Willems—One of the most common issues in elementary school is when a friend makes a new friend, and their old friend gets jealous. “My New Friend Is So Fun!” tackles this topic in such an adorable way.
(Did I just include four Mo Willems books? Yes, yes I did. I liked so many that eventually I just bought the series.)
“Peanut Butter & Cupcake!” by Terry Border–-This story has such a fun cadence, and the little kids love it. It’s about fitting in and making friends.
“Where Oliver Fits” by Kale Atkinson— This story is an essential lesson about fitting in and finding the right group for you and not changing who you are to fit into a group. It’s perfect for second and third graders.
“Friends Stick Together” by Hanna E. Harrison— This story highlights that our friends can be different from us and teaches children how to navigate conflict.
“Enemy Pie” by Derek Munson–This is a fun enemy-to-friends story for children who struggle to like new people.
“The Invisible Boy” by Patrice Barton—For older elementary-aged students, “The Invisible Boy” is about inclusion and friendship. A student once shared with me that they became more thoughtful about including the quiet kids after reading this book together.
“Be Kind” by Pat Zietlow Miller —This story is perfect for 4th and 5th graders because it has explicit friend instructions embedded into the story about a girl who made a mistake and how her classmate was kind to her and became her friend. It was written so that we can hear the internal monologue of the characters, which makes it so relatable.
THE FEELINGS LADY 