How to Grow a Friend by Sara Gillingham

Growing a friend is a lot like growing a flower as this picture book proves.  Just like flowers, friends need a seed and good soil.  You need space to bloom.  You need to be patient.  Sometimes your friend will bug you, but chase the bugs away together.  Don’t let your friend get stuck in the weeds.  Grow a whole garden of friends and know that there is always room for one more friend.  Along the way, the analogy of gardening strengthens the ties of the friendship, making this a very tight and strong picture book that shows that hard work, patience and time make for a great friendship.

Gillingham writes in a very earnest and straight forward tone here.  This is not a subtle analogy, but one that is presented straight to the reader.  The text of the book speaks about friendship while the illustrations show mostly the gardening aspect though at times it too is all about the human connection.  Young readers are shown clearly that friendship takes work and time.

Gillingham’s bright illustrations add greatly to the appeal of the book.  With an organic feel thanks to the texture of the prints, the illustrations have strong shapes, bright colors, and lots of patterns yet never get too busy or fussy.  They have a jaunty and frolicking feel to them that is very cheery.

Perfect for gardening and friendship story times, this picture book will have us thinking spring early this year.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Random House and Edelweiss.