My Friends
Written By Taro Gomi
Children's Book Ages 3-6
Rating: 3/5

This book details how a little Japanese girl learned to do simple tasks from her friends in nature!

Opinion: This book is okay, pretty simple, most likely for toddlers. Every two pages there is one line of print that repeats: "I learned to ____ from my friend _____." Somewhat predictable and not entirely interesting, but for young kids it will be helpful for them in identifying what animals can do that is similar to us. It would be easy for them to finish the sentences after reading it a couple of times too. What I liked about this book is that the little girl in the book is Japanese and all of her friends at school are Japanese as well, so there is a bit of multiculturalism thrown in there.

Curriculum Connection: I almost brought this as my 'window' book for class, because all of the characters (besides the animals) are of an ethnicity other than my own, but it doesn't necessarily talk about Japanese culture so I was unsure. This could be in a discussion about animals and nature, or how we can learn from places outside of school. It could also be used as an opening or as a writing activity and the students could write their own sentence, "I learned how to ___ from my friend ____," maybe even using each other's names and write down what each of their peers has taught them. On the first day of class this could be read and the class could make a chart that says "My Friends" with pictures of everyone or of statements of what it means to be a friend to refer back to later.