Books like Stacey's Remarkable Books
By Stacey Abrams
If your kid counts down to library day, Stacey's Remarkable Books gets that. Stacey shares her favorite stories with a new classmate who struggles reading in English, and soon the whole class wants in on the reading circle. The books below are for kids who think a shared story is the fastest way to make a friend.
Kindness between kids crosses an ocean instead of a library table. Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming shows friendship building slowly, one package at a time.
No shared language here either, but Gibberish by Young Vo tells the whole thing without words, so you feel Dat's confusion firsthand.
Two girls, two languages, one snowy afternoon. Words to Make a Friend by Donna Jo Napoli finds the same friendship without needing a shared word to start it.
Same neighborly warmth, but The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio gets its laughs from everyone forgetting how friendly a lion looks outside his cage.
Another book that starts in a quiet library, but Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen lets a huge, unlikely visitor become everyone's favorite regular.
For the kid who plays alone at recess, Be a Friend by Salina Yoon shows how one person noticing changes everything.
That same classroom-full-of-new-friends feeling, but The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco finds it in a class other kids used to laugh at.
Same cheerful energy, but Ladybug Girl and the Rescue Dogs by Jacky Davis sends the friend group out to help dogs instead of each other.
For the littlest sibling not ready for a full story yet, Our Best Friends by Gyo Fujikawa gives the same friendship feeling in board-book size.
Where the seed shows friendship growing from books, Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer breaks it down into small daily moments, a wave, a boost, a cheer.
A boy starts at a new school and begins acting like a bully, until his classmates step in and teach him about a promise to stand up instead of standing by.
Smaller and quieter than a classroom full of new friends, Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats is just one boy's small triumph on a hot summer sidewalk.
