Top 10 Tuesday: Picture Books About Navigating Friendship

Friendships are tough. Sometimes you're the new kid and you have a hard time making friends. Sometimes two people know each other so well that quarrels can turn into stand-offs. It's complicated. But everyone loves feeling loved and everyone loves feeling accepted. And isn't that kinda what friendships are all about?

I've gathered a stack of favorites that each handle friendship in their own way. One story is about a whale who seeks a friend in what feels like an endless, open ocean. Another is about a beaver who betrays her best friend in hopes of earning the acceptance of a peer group she admires. Two books are about a "third wheel" threatening a preexisting friendship, handled in one book by feud and the other by isolation. And one is a story about a boy who wants so desperately to make a friend that he sets up shop to try and convince passersby that he's the friend for which they've been waiting (which may or may not involve a talking sandwich).

Bring this list to your local library or independent bookstore and add your own favorites in the comments below!

PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT NAVIGATING FRIENDSHIP:

Big Friends by Linda Sarah, Benji Davies (Illustrator)

Duck and Hippo in the Rainstorm by Jonathan London, Andrew Joyner (Illustrator)

The Friend Ship by Kat Yeh, Chuck Groenink (Illustrator)

Ira Crumb Makes a Pretty Good Friend by Naseem Hrab, Josh Holinaty (Illustrator)

Love, Triangle by Marcie Colleen, Bob Shea (Illustrator)

Me, Me, Me by Annika Dunklee, Lori Joy Smith (Illustrator)

My Friend Maggie by Hannah E. Harrison

Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler

A Small Blue Whale by Beth Ferry, Lisa Mundorff (Illustrator)

Snail and Worm Again by Tina Kugler