Do You Want to be My Friend?

Eric Carle (1971), 30 pages

Audience: All ages

Format: picture book

Meet one hopeful Mouse looking for friendship, –who along the way … finds it! Carle has once again created a wonderful children’s book for all ages. Presented in a nearly wordless format, this book prompts the reader with just one question “Do you want to be my friend?” As Little Mouse adventures out he runs into a variety of animals along the way including an especially long snake. Carle’s classic collage-images are vivid against the minimal white background, simple though they may seem, his design placement is intentional for young children trying to build reading readiness skills, “the ingenious placement of the pictures shows the child the correct direction in which to turn the page” establishing that the story is read from left to right. This important skill (understanding how books work and how they are read) is known as print awareness; a fundamental early literacy skill. This story also, builds another great reading readiness skill known as narrative (storytelling) ability. A practically wordless book, readers are encouraged to create and narrate the illustrations. Carle includes tips on storytelling and narrating this story in a note to parents and teachers in the book’s forward. Adorable and educational – the best of both worlds!

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: The Hunter and the Animals by Tomie dePaola, The Story of a Little Mouse Trapped in a Book by Monique Felix or The Colors by Monique Felix

Other books by this author: From Head to Toe, My Very First Book of Colors, The Grouchy Ladybug, and Pancakes, Pancakes!