3 Picture Books about Friendship and Positivity

Silver Linings and The Bright Side showcase a positive attitude, while Friends beyond Measure puts a clever, mathematical spin on childhood best friends.

Silver Linings by Fiona Woodcock. Greenwillow, 2023, 30 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 0-4

Recommended for: ages 3-6

Pip and Parker are such good friends they often don’t need to speak when happily going about shared activities. But when something goes wrong, one or the other will know what to do. A broken crayon means both can use the same color. A windy day means they can put away their paper boats and fly kites instead. Pip is a glass-half-empty type of person, making this reader wonder if her friend Parker ever runs out of cheerful solutions. But young-lap sitters and beginning readers can enjoy guessing what he might suggest next (and supplying the answer once they’ve been through the story a few times). At the very least, it might help them remember that raindrops and broken crayons are not the end of the world.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

The Bright Side by Chad Otis. Rocky Pond Books (PRH), 2023, 40 pages

Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 4-8

The unnamed boy in this story has an unusual temporary home: a school bus. Unknown circumstances have forced his family on the road and he misses the friends left behind. But “Look on the bright side,” urge his parents: “You get to make new friends wherever you go!”

This smiley-faced admonition doesn’t necessarily cheer up our hero, but he does discover seeds of their inventiveness in himself. As, for instance, “when you can’t afford something you REALLY, REALLY want . . . You do something you didn’t know you could do,” such as create a substitute. Learning to look on the bright side helps with just about ever privation except new friends, for whatever the parents say, making friends means staying in the same place for a while. When that finally happens, the boy’s new school is full of kids who don’t seem to need friends. Until the classroom faces an unexpected privation, and his well-practiced imagination comes to the rescue.

Chad Otis drew from his own experience of living on a school bus with his family for four years. The family in this book faces real privation but their relentless optimism makes them rich in spirit. Young readers may not want to try “pizza toast” (i.e.,  ketchup and bread), but living in a school bus sounds like fun.

Overall Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)

Friends beyond Measure by Lalena Fisher. Harper, 2023, 40 pages

Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 6-10

Ana and Harwin were fast friends from the day they met. They like different things, but plenty of the same things. They pursued adventures in the neighborhood and came up with all kinds of games to play and subjects to explore in each other’s houses. This went on for 3-4 years, until the dreaded day Harwin announced she would be moving far away. Oh noooo! Will they still be friends, even at a distance? For how long? And how much?

This familiar story is told in a most unfamiliar way: through a series charts. There’s a Venn diagram for separate interests and interests in common. A bar chart for Ana’s feelings on hearing of the move. Timelines of their adventures, maps of their houses, flowcharts of options for the friends to get together after the move. It’s not a read-aloud, but a browse-together, and analytical kids will pour over the pages for hours. A list at the end describes all the charts and diagrams with suggestions for mapping one’s own data. It’s even more fun with a friend!

Overall rating: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: We’ve enjoyed several fun picture books that illustrate math concepts: see these roundup of Oversize Books and Creative Math.
• Resource: More numbers? See our booklist of Marvelous Math for Middle-Graders.

We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.